Travesty International
by Namiko-kii
Summary: Buffy and the Scooby Gang are recruited to a new Department in the Ministry of Magic: the Department of Slayers and Demonologists. Slightly AU, but only in the sense that it disregards a lot of the HP Epilogue. WillowBill, HarryGinny, RonHermione, DawnOC.
1. A Street In London

**Travesty International**

**- A BtVS/HP Crossover**

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am neither.

**A/N R.E. Time Setting: **Set seven years after Deathly Hallows, one year after Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. I am ignoring some of DH Epilogue, and the entire 'Season Eight' comics, as well as Season Five of Angel. Sorry to those who like those parts but it's about creative freedom plus I was facing some serious plot-bunny-problems should these be included in the 'back story'.

* * *

Harry James Potter, also known as the Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One, the Deputy Head of the Auror Office and, at one unfortunate time in his second year of Hogwarts, Slytherin's Heir, was at his wit's end.

And, no, it was not because Voldemort was back. That particular episode of his life had ended a good seven years ago.

What he was so frustrated about was that - despite the fact that the head of the Ministry's new Department was scheduled to arrive in just a few hours - the people in administration still hadn't gotten around to sending out the flyers showing what the new people looked like. They could have already been here for a few hours (now _there_ was a scary thought) without anyone realising it.

"Ron!" called Harry, spotting his best friend across the hall. "Have you got the Transfiguration group ready?"

Ron nodded. "Hermione's got them up on level four, waiting for the go-ahead. Oh, and Kingsley said he wanted to see you afterwards."

Harry sighed - another meeting probably. That or there had been a stuff-up in the training sessions again. For some reason, Kingsley had decided that it would be Harry's job to explain to parents every time a trainee Auror hurt themselves exactly what had happened. Perhaps it was because he was the guy who'd defeated You-Know-Who, and the parents would take it better from him then they would another member of the office. Still, 'parental control,' as he and Ron had nicknamed it, was almost as boring as desk work.

"Fine," said Harry. "Now, let's go build us a new Department, okay?"

"Yeah," replied Ron as the two of them stepped into the elevator. "It's not everyday this sorta thing happens. How'd you say we found this lot again?"

"Well, they were recruiting of the south of Wales, and accidentally picked up a Hogwarts graduate without realising. She sent an owl back to her parents, who passed it onto us. One of them - Gilbert or Gillespie or something like that - decided to make contact with us. They set up a couple of meetings and once they were sure we weren't some sort of Satanic cult - their words, not mine - they agreed to join. Well, that's the simple version. From what I've heard, there was a lot more paperwork involved."

The two of them shuddered - doing paperwork was almost as bad as History of Magic homework used to be, only these days they couldn't copy from Hermione.

"So now they get a whole Department?"

"Yeah," said Harry, shrugging. "Apparently Kingsley was thinking of putting them in with International Magical Co-operation cos they've got people in all different countries, or Law Enforcement with us. But there were too many sub-divisions, so in the end, brand new Department."

The elevator doors opened and the two of them stepped out onto the fifth floor of the Ministry. The entire area was a hive of activity, wizards and witches running back and forth, casting protection and stabilising charms all over the place, many staring at the roof as if they expected it to fall down on their heads. Enchanted paper planes zoomed past, carrying information from one team to another. And at the centre of it all stood Hermione, clearly in her element as she ordered people to and fro, organising everything.

She looked up from berating a junior Administration witch over something to see Harry and Ron walking towards her.

"Hi, Ron," she said, kissing him on the cheek quickly. "Are we cleared to go now?"

"Kingsley said whenever you're ready," Ron replied.

"Good then." Hermione then pointed her wand to her throat and muttered, _"Sonorus." _Then she turned to the assembled wizards and witches and said in a magnified voice, "Okay, people, everything in order?"

There was a mumble of responses, all adding up to yes.

"Good, then. Wands at the ready... and cast your spells."

At the same time, fifty-seven jets of pale orange light emerged from their owner's wands and spread out over the roof. Forming an intricate grid, the lines then seemed to squeeze themselves out until the walls were doubled in height, with an orange cube filling the upper half.

Then, with a small squelching noise, the bottom of the cube solidified, leaving only a plastered roof, identical to the one that had been there before, to show their efforts.

However, at the same time, on all the elevators in the Ministry, a new button was added. The elevators now read:

_Level One, Minister for Magic Offices (Department of Magical Law Enforcement)  
__Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement  
Level Three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes  
Level Four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures  
_Level Five, Department of Slayers and Demonologists  
_Level Six, Department of International Magical Co-operation_ _  
Level Seven, Department of Magical Transportation  
Level Eight, Department of Magical Games and Sports  
Level Nine, The Atrium  
Level Ten, Department of Mysteries  
Level Eleven, Courtrooms_

* * *

**In the Streets of London...**

"Okay," said Buffy, looking around the overcrowded car in apprehension, "lets go over this one more time. Andrew, you first."

It was a cold, typical London morning, and Buffy and her friends were on their way for their first day at the Ministry for Magic. Giles was driving the car, a weird stretch-limo-cross-Hummer type. It had taken several hours to convince him to drive, and then it was only the threat that if he didn't, Xander would, that had convinced him.

They were all there, well, almost. Xander and Willow were sitting next to Buffy, with Andrew, Dawn, and a few potential Slayers... well, they weren't potentials now, but it was hard to break the habit of calling them that, even after a year. Faith wasn't there - she was training a bunch of newbies in South America, and Spike and Anya... they had both been casualties of the final battle in Sunnydale.

Without looking up from the video game he was playing, Andrew said, "My name is Andrew Wells. I have never summoned a demon or tried to take over a town and bend people to my will."

"Good," said Buffy. "Xander?"

It had been his idea of course, a nonchalant suggestion over one of their get-together's that, when they arrived at the Ministry they: 'keep our various ex-villanies under wraps... at least till we know they aren't gonna burn us at the stake.' He'd said it in a general way, but they all knew he was refering in particular to Willow. Xander's usual protectiveness had only increased after her messy breakup with Kennedy.

Besides, thought Giles as he glanced at the group again in the rearview mirror, their alliance with the 'Wizarding World' was fragile enough without revealing that several of their party had dabled in dark magic of some form and that one of them had tried to destroy the world, and only failed because of a yellow crayon.

"I'm Xander Harris. I lost this eye playing golf," said Xander deadpan. There was a moment of silence and then everyone started laughing. Trust Xander to break the tension that was swirling around them.

"Okay, I don't think we need to cover up_ that_ much_. _Giles, you next."

They had reached a red light, so Giles turned around to face her. "Is this absolutely necessary?" he began. "These people have offered us a constant base, a myriad of facilities and, erm--" He faltered under Buffy's glare and began to rub his glasses furiously.

"And I would prefer them not to learn our big, bad secrets straight off."

He sighed, and gave in. "My name is Rupert Giles, not Ripper."

Buffy smiled at him again. "See? Mr Tweed even knows his own name now. Good boy." She took a deep breath and then turned to the girl with red hair who was sitting to her left. "Willow?" There was something far more cautious in her voice.

Willow stared at her friends, for a moment saying nothing. The silence was far more awkward than anything before. "My name is Willow Rosenberg," she said quietly, "and I can control my magic."

Buffy reached over and hugged her friend. She was spared the need to say anything by Giles, who chose that moment to pull over.

"We're here," he said.

With a great deal of bumping, jostling and cries of 'oi! watch your elbow' the group exited from the car. They looked around with some excitement, expecting a grand building or an elaborate secret entrance.

It was no wonder that there were groans of disappointment when Giles pointed to a small, unobtrusive phonebooth.

"That's it?" asked Buffy. "For god's sake, the Watcher's Council was more fancy... load of tightarses that they were."

"Indeed," coughed Giles. He had long since abandoned any allegiance to the Council, but it still affronted his good old Englishness (for lack of a better word) to hear his former employer slandered so blatantly. Then he remembered the Cruiamentum that they had forced Buffy to go through, and any annoyance vanished. Served them right, he thought bluntly.

Xander stared at the phone box, hands in pockets. "So... Are we supposed to fit into that?"

"I think so," said Giles. "The instructions said 'enter the phonebox' so that seems like the thing to do."

"All of us? At the same time?"

Giles paused, as if noting the potential problem for the first time. "Oh dear."

Ten minutes later, the group had managed to fit into the phone booth. It was the strangest thing - no matter how many people they crowded in, there always seemed to be enough room for one more.

"We all in?" asked Buffy. There was an assortment of yes's. Giles reached over the head of one of the potentials and pressed the following keys:

_6-2-4-4-2_

Willow, who could see the keypad, laughed suddenly.

"What is it?" asked Giles, his eyebrows creasing into a frown simply on reflex.

"The numbers," she said. "They're the same as if you type MAGIC. See?"

"Oh, yes. Right."

A moment later, a voice rang through the phone booth, as if someone was standing right there.

_"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business," _said the voice.

"Rupert Giles, employee of the new Department."

"Buffy Summers, head of the new Department."

"Xander Harris, employee the of new Department."

"Willow Rosenberg, employee the of new Department."

"Andrew Wells, employee of the new Department."

"Dawn Summers, employee of the new Department."

"Samantha Dorian, employee of new Department."

"Melinda Bobbin, employee of new Department and graduate of Hogwarts."

A few more new Slayers listed their names. After they had finished there was a slight pause, before the voice in the phone booth said, "Is that all?"

Giles nodded, then, realising the person couldn't see, said, "Yes, that's it."

"Phew," the voice lost its mechanical edge as the phone booth began to descend downwards. "Well, I guess all that's left is to say: Welcome, to the Ministry of Magic."

"Yeah," said Giles, his voice betraying how much his brain was screaming that - despite the many assurances the wizards had given him - this was all a very bad idea. Those thoughts vanished from his mind as soon as the elevator stopped, however. This was not because of a sudden ephiphany, but because of the stunning scene that had just revealed itself before then.

The elevator slid to a stop, and the group squeezed their way out onto what was known as the Atrium.

The golden fountain was the first thing they noticed. Looming far above their heads, it depicted a wizard, a witch, a centaur, as well as some small creature with orb-sized eyes and rather large ears, not to mention a few other creatures. The walls echoed with the sounds of green flames suddenly exploding from fire grates on both sides.

"Oh my goddess," said Willow, echoing what all of them were thinking in one form or another.

Andrew looked up suddenly, having still been immersed into his game until now. In the ten seconds before he registered his surroundings, he had time to say, "What the hell? My game's frozen - and I almost beat Xander's --" His sentence was cut off as he became as slack-jawed as the rest of them.

"This is _so _better than the Watcher's Council HQ," said Buffy quietly.

Just then, a Welcome Witch came rushing up to them. "Welcome to the Ministry," she said quickly. "Are you the new Department? Oh good, you'd all better come with me. The Minister wants to see you immediately." She began to bustle the group towards the security desk at the other end of the hall.

Willow sidled over to Buffy. "Um, Buffy..."

"Yeah, Will?"

"You won't need me _straight _away, will you? Because, it's not like I'm head of an office or anything..." Willow trailed off. The Atrium was so magnicent to her that she couldn't bear to be rushed on just yet.

Buffy took one look at the longing on her best friend's face and nodded. "Go on, Will - I'll cover for you."

Smiling, Willow separated from the group, and made her way over to the Fountain. She stood there for a while, quickly becoming oblivious to the activity around her, staring at every detail. Looking down at the base of the fountain, she noticed some writing on it. She bent down and began to read:

_To the Fallen. Forever will we value their sacrifice. Albus Dumbledore, Lily Potter, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey, Cedric Diggory, Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody, Severus Snape, Emmeline Vance, Amanda Bones, Edgar Bones, Caradoc Dearborn, Benjy Fenwick, Alice Longbottom, Frank Longbottom, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadows, Fabian Prewett, Gideon Prewett, Regulus Black..._

The names continued for a long while - as far as Willow could tell they extended all around the base. Written on the rim itself, however, was another phrase, repeated over and over again in the same spindly text.

_It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities._

"Interesting fountain, isn't it?" came a voice from behind Willow. She started and stood up.

Turning around, she saw a man, dressed in black wizarding robes. He had a stick in one hand, and a selection of papers in another. He had red hair, and blue eyes, and might have been quite handsome if not for the scar which disfugured half his face. Nevertheless, looking at him, Willow thought he seemed rather easy-going and nice. She could just tell these sort of things - at least, when she wanted to.

"I'm Bill Weasley," said the man, tucking the stick in his pocket and offering his hand for her to shake. "I haven't seen around you before - are you new?"

"Yeah," said Willow, shaking his hand slightly nervously. "Willow Rosenberg."

"Which department are you in?"

"Oh, um, it's the... er..."

Taking pity on her, Bill asked, "What floor?" However Willow only cringed more - she didn't know that either. She stood mumbling for a while more and when she failed to answer his question, Bill turned to face the fountain again.

"There are so many of them..." he said, almost to himself. Bill sighed.

"What happened?" asked Willow, going to stand next to him.

Bill looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as if asking how she could possible not know this - an effect somewhat spoiled by the fact that the other eyebrow was almost non-existant. Willow couldn't say his scars didn't throw her slightly, but after Xander lost his eye, she'd gotten used to ignoring certain... strange elements of people's appearance.

"There was a war," he said. "An evil person - and I mean completely evil - decided to take over. He got followers, Death Eaters, and they moved through the country, killing any who stood in their way, and torturing others just for fun. Then one day, the evil person - we call him You-Know-Who but his real name is Voldemort - lost his powers - tried to kill a baby, something happened, he couldn't. We thought he was dead. But he came back, ten or so years ago. By the time he was defeated - by the person who had been the baby he tried to kill incidentally - so many more had died."

"We fought something like that," said Willow quietly.

Bill looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Utter evil - wanting power. Except it wasn't killing just anyone, it was trying to rob us of our only defence against it," she said hurridly. Willow wasn't quite sure where Buffy's policy of keeping their secrets began, and so cut down on the details of what had happened.

"Wait a sec," said Bill, realisation dawning in his eyes. "You're the new Department! Slayers and Demonologists, right?"

"Um, yeah, sure," said Willow, who honestly had no idea what their department was called. "Unless there are a thousand other departments popping up against here and there in this place. For all I know, this is a totally normal thing."

Bill laughed slightly."So _that's_why you don't know about Voldemort," Bill continued. "I bet you don't know much about magic either - Harry said you'd mostly be Muggles."

"Erm..." Willow blinked. "Well, I know what magic _is._Not a lot about how you use it." There was a slight stress on the 'you,' just so she could say to herself that she wasn't lying. "I mean, there's incantations and stuff - not to mention potions and things. But Muggles... no idea. I've met Wiccans, and demons, and magical creatures. Not so much the whole wizard thing."

Bill smiled - obviously her slight ranting amused him."Come on," he said. "I'll take you to the new floor - the other's in your group would probably be there by now. I'll tell you about magic on the way."

Nodding happily, Willow followed the wizard away from the fountain and towards a row of grey elevators that stood at the other end. As they passed the security desk, Bill lent over and said something to the witch in charge, and they passed through without further hassle. At last an elevator arrived.

As they stepped into it, Willow said:

"So, what _are _Muggles? I hope it's not a fungus."

* * *

**A/N: **So there we have the super long chapter one. Well, not super long - just pretty big is all. I hope you like it - and I'm not going to know if you do unless you click that little button and review.

Go on, please? Make my day.

**p.s. **Yes, I do know that Buffy didn't end season seven on very good terms with the others, but an explanation on how they're all back to 'Scooby Gang' mode will be included eventually. But for an opening chapter, I think this is enough, don't you?


	2. The Portrait on the Wall

**Travesty International**

**- A BtVS/HP Crossover**

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am neither.

**Time Setting: **Set seven years after Deathly Hallows, one year after Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. I am ignoring some of DH Epilogue, and the entire 'Season Eight' comics, as well as Season Five of Angel. Sorry to those who like those parts but it's about creative freedom plus I was facing some serious plot-bunny-problems should these be included in the 'back story'.

**A/N: **Okay folks, here we have it: the next chapter of Travesty International. The entire story is basically sitting in tiny dot-point form on a sheet of paper on my desk, so don't expect me to be pumping out a chapter a week or anything ridiculous like that. But still, I'd hate to leave my dear readers waiting (my dear readers currently consisting of the two other members of the Popcorn Trifecta, if the number of actual reviews are anything go by) so here's the next chapter. Just so you know though, review's are my lifeblood - give me more, and this story will come flowing a lot faster.

**Pairings: **Mainly WillowBill, currently unsure if there will be any others (although I do have a few vague plans). PM me if you have ideas! I'm open to suggestions in regards to some characters.

**Thanks: **Angelsmile101 ('R' from the aforementioned Trifecta) for listening to me as I ranted on about back-stories in order to get them straight in my head.

* * *

Buffy stood outside the Minister for Magic's office, trying to look like she knew what she was doing. The others stood or sat in the various couches in the 'waiting room' where they currently sat. All except Willow of course - who was probably off examining every inch of the building at that very moment. Buffy hoped she was having fun. Willow, like all of them, had been far too sad lately. It was all Kennedy's fault.

But then, in a strange way, Buffy had to thank Kennedy too. If not for the other Slayer's actions, Buffy and Giles would not have reached the fragile balance of their old friendship and their Slayer-Watcher relationship that they had today.

_I wonder how long we'll have to wait, _thought Buffy impatiently. _That witch said that he wanted to see us straight away - so why the hell are we still waiting? _

Just then, Buffy was almost knocked over by an irritated wizard with black hair who stormed past her into the Minister's office. She grabbed the door just as it swung shut and pressed her ear up to the small gap that she left between the door and the frame.

"Just what is it you want to see me about this time, Kingsley?" asked one of the men irritably. Judging from this and what he'd said, Buffy assumed he was the man with black hair.

"Ah, Harry. Good. You got my message. I trust the new fourth floor is in operation then. No problems with Hermione's spell?" asked the deep rich voice that - by a process of elimination - belonged to the Minister for Magic.

"No problems, as you should know. Your elevator changed just like everyone else's. No stalling. What is it?"

"I have a job for you, Harry."

"If this is parental duty again..." There was a pause, as if the man with black hair was preparing himself to say something he'd been thinking about for a long time. "Damnit, Kingsley. I'm not going to keep doing this. I'm not your bloody servant - I'm deputy Head of the AO for god's sake. Besides, I had enough of that with Dumbledore."

"Last time I checked Harry - I wasn't running your life, so don't compare me to someone who did."

There was a pause, and Buffy could almost hear both men flinch, and then, for some strange reason, they both said in unison, "Sorry, Professor."

A kind voice replied, "I appear to have gone temporarily deaf - please feel free to continue on with your argument."

"Right," said the man with the black hair, although he sounded a bit frazzled now. "What I'm trying to say, Kingsley, is you can't keep-"

There was a small cough from the third voice, the one that belonged to the 'temporarily deaf' person. "As I was saying, feel free to continue to argue, _however _there is a young lady at the door who would most like to see you."

Blushing slightly - but taking this as her cue - Buffy straightened up and motioned to the others to follow her. Then she opened the door fully and stepped into the room.

She instantly recognised two of the people whose conversation she had been eavesdropping into - the man with black hair was standing in front of the Minister's desk, and the Minister himself - a large dark skinned man who radiated authority - was sitting behind it. But of the third person, there was no sign. There was only a portrait to one side of the office, of an old man with a long white beard, half-moon glasses and smiling face.

"Ah," said the Minister. "You must be Buffy Summers - the self-appointed head of our new Department?"

Buffy nodded politely.

"Good. My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt. I am Minister for Magic and as such am your boss. But -" and here he turned to the man with black hair as if to make a point "- that is not to say we cannot get along.

"Nice to meet you," said Buffy, and she was telling the truth. For some reason she thought she could trust the Minister, not least because it would make her life a hell of a lot easier if she could.

"These are my friends," she said, turning to the others. "The message you sent us said we'd be allowed to appoint our own as leaders of our Department?"

Kingsley nodded so she continued.

"This is Rupert Giles. He'll be head of the Watcher's Office."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Minister," said Giles. _Very tweed-ish, Giles, _thought Buffy.

The man with black hair looked startled. "You're British!" he said.

Giles took off his glasses and rubbed them. "Erm... yes. I served on the old Watcher's Council - not that you know who they are - in England until I became Buffy's Watcher." Seeing the blank look on the man's face, Giles added, "A Watcher teaches and trains a Slayer, while ensuring that she is as safe as possible." He turned slightly red as he said the last part. _Probably remembering all the times that he didn't exactly fulfil _that _particular job requirement, _thought Buffy. She and Giles were better than they had first been after defeating the First, but she was still a bit, well, bitter about some things that had happened prior to that.

"Oh," said the man with black hair.

Kingsley looked at him, as if expecting him to say more, but when that failed to happen, the Minister simply sighed and turned back to Buffy. "This," he said, nodding towards his companion, "is the Deputy Head of our Auror Office, Harry Potter. Do you know what Aurors are? Good. It is my decision that he will be assigned to your department on a half-time basis, along with one or two other Aurors, to help your transition to the Wizarding World and our way of life."

The man with black hair - Harry Potter - sighed slightly. He didn't appear angry but he didn't appear exactly over the moon about it all either. "It's this or parent duty, isn't it?" he asked Kingsley.

The Minister smiled. "Pretty much," Kingsley said.

"The things I put up with..." joked Harry. "It's a wonder I don't just raise an army and have you overthrown. Would save me a lot of work."

"Yes, but then think of all the paperwork that would follow. I can't exactly imagine Ron thanking you - or Ginny for that matter."

Buffy watched the two of them joking, unable to stop herself comparing this to the argument of just before. _They must be pretty good friends, despite their differences in position, _she though. _Wonder how that happened._

With a last rueful shake of his head, Harry turned from Kingsley to Buffy. "Well, I suppose you want to see your new office, then?" he asked.

"Yes, please. Thanks for your time, Minister," said Buffy as she began to walk towards the door, the rest of her friends - plus Harry - following her.

Harry led them out of the first level, into the elevators, and down to the fourth, where they were greeted by a recorded voice saying, "Welcome to the Department of Slayers and Demonologists." They then proceeded to be given a 'guided tour' of their new offices.

There were quite a lot of rooms, Buffy soon discovered, and very few of them had a specific purpose. There were offices of course - mostly to be divided into Watcher's Offices, Slayers Recruitment and Training and Tracking. There were a few rooms for storage, one for relaxation ("only don't spend all your time in there") and the rest were all spares.

_Oh boy, _thought Buffy. _Organising all this ain't_ _gonna be fun._"...And that, is where you can have meetings with the whole department," said Harry, pointing to a large empty room to the left of the corridor. Realising from his tone of voice that that was all there was, the group began to disperse.

* * *

But Harry raised a hand to let them know that he wasn't _quite _finished talking.

"Because we didn't know what you wanted exactly in the rooms, the entire department has temporarily been affected by a _Commodum_ charm." Seeing the blank looks on all their faces, he continued. "Basically, whatever you need for your rooms - simply say it, and it will be appear. But _be specific. _You've no idea of the problems we had while finetuning the system." Harry shuddered, remembering an unfortunate incident where one of the testers had started to wish for buffalo wings but had been cut off when a full sized buffalo actually landed on his chest._ It was Wingardium L_efio_saall over again._

The others nodded and started to head off in various groups, falling into the 'offices' Buffy had assigned them to earlier.

Buffy began to head towards her own office, but then stopped suddenly. "Oi! Andrew!" she said, turning to the ex-villain-turned-junior-Watcher.

"Yeah?"

"No lightsabers!"

At least he had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Sure, Buffy," said Andrew, before sighing and continuing on his way.

"What was that about?" asked Harry, puzzled. He knew what Lightsabers were, but what did _Star Wars _have to do with this?

"Nothing. Never mind."

"Okay..." said Harry hesitantly following Buffy to her new office.

He wasn't exactly sure what to make of the Slayer. For a start, she seemed strangely bubbly for someone who had been in as many life or death situations as her Watcher had mentioned. In fact, something about her screamed 'ex-valley girl' which wasn't very comforting when you thought about it. Also, there had been something about her _dying, _but she was standing right in front of him. All of it - plus the worry that she would demand his life story, something Harry hated even this many years after the event - made him rather nervous.

"Now," she said, turning to him. There was a confident gleam in the Slayer's eye, and she looked rather pleased with herself. "Why don't you tell me what exactly this big old war of yours was about?"

_Oh, _thought Harry, _so she _is _smarter than she looks._

* * *

Xander, Andrew and Giles looked at the blank room before them - a room which _they _were going to have to decorate, albeit by magic.

"Erm... Xander," said Giles, who had absolutely no idea what to do. He took off his glasses and rubbed them furiously once more. "You're the... architect. You do it."

"Dude," replied Xander. "So-many months as a builder does _not _qualify me for interior design. Plus, no depth perception." He tapped his eye-patch to illustrate the point.

Andrew opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the other two immediately.

"No Star Wars, Andrew!"

He closed his mouth again, looked at both of them, then said, "Well, I think, if we're all going to be working here we should have a fair share in the atmosphere of our working space-"

"No!" repeated Giles and Xander once more.

Giles began pacing the empty room and then stopped. "If we can't decide on anything else, let's at least get the basics done. Now, we can't say it aloud yet so how about a list?"

Xander nodded. "But we don't have any paper..." He trailed off. "Right. Magic. Stupid Xander."

"Ah... could we have a piece of paper?" asked Andrew and one appeared in his hand. "And a pen?" A quill appeared in his other. "An _actual _pen?" Nothing happened. "I suppose it was too much to ask for."

* * *

Willow stepped out of the elevator onto the first floor. Bill - who had spent the time in the elevator explaining the basics of what they had dubbed Ministry Magic, just for the sake of the explanation - followed.

"So, what do you think?" asked Bill.

Willow looked around her, at the brand new Department all clean and perfect. "Wow..." she said. "And you said you guys _made _all this with magic?"

"Yup. Plus a couple of other charms to make sure you guys could use it probably."

"Wow," repeated Willow.

It wasn't like she hadn't seen powerful magic before - hell, she'd been the one to change the Slayer line from 'one' to 'all'. But the idea of creating a whole other building level, with only a 'wand,' a group of about forty wizards, and an incantation (and one not said aloud at that), was mind-boggling even to her.

"Come on," said Bill, smiling at her shocked expression. "The other's will probably be near the new meeting room. I'll show you where it is."

As they walked, Willow turned to Bill. "So," she asked, "what exactly is your job in all of this?"

"I'm Goblin Liaison, in the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures."

"Sounds... cool?" said Willow, feeling unsure. After all, Bill could hate his job for all she knew.

"It is. Apparently I'm the most popular Liaison in ages. Or at least, the least hated."

"What do you mean?"Bill shrugged. "I used to work as a curse-breaker for Gringotts - that's the wizarding bank - and for goblins, that's as high a seal of approval as a wizard can get."

Willow smiled slightly and brushed a strand of her red hair out of her eyes. As she did so, she took a better look at Bill. If it weren't for his scars, which marked the left side of his face, he would have been quite handsome, with his red hair and relaxed grin. But even with them there was something genuinely likable about him, although there was something in his eyes that seemed sad, even when he was smiling.

"Thanks for telling me about magic," she said at last. "And for showing me to the department."

"No problem."

"Well... see you."

Bill turned to go but was stopped in doing this by the arrival of Buffy, as well as a man with black hair.

"Will!" said Buffy, going over to her friend immediately. "I was wondering where you'd got to." She turned to the man Willow didn't know. "Will, this is Harry Potter, he's with the Auror department and is going to be hanging around for a while - make sure we're good and all. Harry, this is Willow, another member of the department."

"Nice to meet you," said Willow.

"You too," said Harry. "Oh. Hey, Bill."

Willow turned around to see that Bill was still there.

"Hi Harry. How's Ginny?"

"She's good. 'Keeps making hints about where she wants to go for our anniversary."

"Nice. Look at it this way, it's better than having to have it at the Burrow."

"Yeah..." There was a pause and then Harry said, "About that, are you and Molly still... you know?"

Another pause, this time far more awkward. At last Bill said, slowly, "Look, I've got to go, they'll be missing me in the Department. Bye Harry. See you around, Willow."

Without another word he walked off in the direction he and Willow had come, not looking back until he reached the elevator.

**

* * *

**

A/N:

Well, there you have it. The second chapter, and the Department is officially open for business.

Please review. What do you think? Did it suck? Did it rock? Do you have conspiracy theories already? If so, share. Am I totally ranting here? (Yes, I am.)


	3. Remmy's, River's and Riddles

**Travesty International**

**- A BtVS/HP Crossover**

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am neither.

**Time Setting: **Set seven years after Deathly Hallows, one year after Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. I am ignoring some of DH Epilogue, and the entire 'Season Eight' comics, as well as Season Five of Angel. Sorry to those who like those parts but it's about creative freedom plus I was facing some serious plot-bunny-problems should these be included in the 'back story'.

**A/N: **Just to clear up any confusion, Willow is bi in this. This is partly because of the WillowBill relationship that I want to occur and partly because in my mind, Willow is bi. She clearly loved Oz and Xander as well as Tara and (to some degree) Kennedy. So therefore she is bi. Yeah.

**Pairings: **Mainly WillowBill, currently unsure if there will be any others. PM me if you have ideas! I'm open to suggestions in regards to some characters.

**Thanks: **All my shiny shiny reviewers. You're the reason this chapter's up so quickly.

Harry Potter woke up with a sigh. The morning light slid in between the blinds, allowing him to see as he reached for his bedside table and his glasses. He put them on and looked around. Ginny was already gone - _probably had to leave for work, _thought Harry - so he was quite alone.

Getting up, he sighed and headed for the kitchen. He needed coffee.

Reaching the kitchen, he was surprised to see Ginny still there.

"Morning," he said, kissing her.

"Mmm... hello, sleepy-head," she said. "Normally you're up before me."

"And normally you're gone by this time," he replied, reaching for a cup of coffee that Ginny had obviously prepared for him. He smiled slightly as he sipped the drink. "That's better."

"Well," said Ginny, responding to his comment. "I was going to go to work early - some sixth year Witch hexed a bunch of Muggles and then Splinched herself trying to get away - but then I heard who got hired as defence lawyer."

"Who?"

"Malfoy."

"Ouch. Couldn't you just..."

"Nah. No-one else'll take the case - they say it's too _controversial._"

Harry squeezed her gently. "I'm sorry. Anything I can do?"

"It's okay - although... I swear, if he brings your case up as a precedent one more time - I will curse him, I swear."

Harry grinned. "That's my girl. Are we going to go to Quidditch on Saturday?"

Ginny looked at him in confusion. "Harry... Quidditch season ended last month..."

"Oh... Right... I've been so stressed at work, I guess I just forgot."

Ginny stared at him in mock horror. "You - Harry James Potter - _forgot _something about Quidditch?" She grinned at him - _quite evilly_, he thought. "Wait till I tell Ron."

Now it was Harry's turn to look horrified. "No!" he almost shouted. "Please - you can't - god, he'd _murder _me."

Ginny grinned. "Well... maybe I won't tell. Depends."

"On what? I'll do anything!"

"_Anything_?"

Harry paused for about a millisecond, and then, grinning once more, brought her close to him and began to kiss her for all he was worth.

"Morning, Ron!" said Harry as he walked into the Auror's Office.

"'Ello," said Ron, rubbing his eyes. He looked as if he'd only got up a couple of minutes ago, which - knowing Ron - he probably had. "You look happy. What's- On second thoughts I don't want to know." He looked around desperately for a new topic. "Umm... How was the new Department? I hear Kingsley put you on babysitting duty."

"They're okay. A bit weird, but okay. But it's not like I'm going to be working with them on my own."

"You're not? Who else is?"

"Well... Kingsley said I could pick some people to work with me... feel up for 'babysitting duty'?"

Ron groaned. "Can't you ask Sander?"

Just then, Gawain Robards, Head of the Auror Office, walked in.

"No, Weasley, he won't be taking Sander," said Robards, picking up the conversation from what he had heard. Robards had a habit of that - he would stand outside the door for about 30 seconds, work out was going on, and then walk in while giving the impression that he knew _everything _that was going on. Harry had caught him waiting outside on multiple occasions, but as yet Robards was yet to admit to doing it. Harry suspected that he was doing this to try and live up to his most famous predecessor: Mad Eye. Harry didn't mind though - for all his little habits, Robards was a very good Auror, and working under him was pretty good too. Not perfect - but bearable.

"Why not?" asked Ron confused.

"Because," said Robards, throwing a look of long suffering in Harry's direction, "he'll be taking _you._"

"What?!?"

Harry could almost see the thought going through Ron's head: _think of the paperwork._

"The Minister specifically requested that you be assigned to the job. He seemed to think the two of you worked well together." Robards snorted as if this was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

Ron sighed, knowing there would be no getting out of this. "Fine... Who else is on the job?"

"Jordan and Remmy will be working with you," said Robards, before heading to his desk, and the mound of paperwork that awaited him there.

There was a minute or so of no talking, in which the only sound was the scratching of various Quills. At last, Ron leaned over to Harry - whose desk was next to his - and asked, "Who's Jordan? I can't remember..."

"Honestly? No idea." Harry had lost track of the number of Aurors that went in and out of the Office these days. It seemed as though half the students who had been at Hogwarts when the final battle took place had decided to be Aurors, and the Office was constantly swamped with applicants.

"Let's think... do you remember any Jordan's from Hogwarts?"

"Only... nah, it couldn't be."

"Who?"

"Lee Jordan."

"What? 'River'?" asked Ron, using Lee Jordan's name from when he had run Potterwatch.

"Yeah... Him."

"You're right - he'd never be an Auror. Too..."

"Destructive?"

"That's the wo--"

In all probability, Harry would have finished that sentence, except at that moment, a dark skinned man with dreadlocks burst into the Auror Office with a huge grin on his face.

"So!" said Lee Jordan loudly. "Where's Little Harry?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other and, in unison, groaned.

As it turned out, Lee Jordan was not the only 'new' Auror assigned to looking after the new Department. The other was a young graduate Auror, Dale Remmy, a mere twenty year old (although in truth he still looked eighteen). Apparently he showed promise, something Harry had to keep reminding Ron - who looked as if he'd strangle the kid whenever he knocked something over.

He reminded Harry of Tonks, in particular her clumsiness.

Harry sighed as he finished the last of this morning's paperwork, ignoring another crash followed by a squeal of 'Sorry!' - sounds which had been repeating themselves quite regularly for the last hour or so. He looked up at the clock. It was nearly time for the first meeting of the new Department, and he'd told Buffy that he'd have his Aurors there by then.

"Right, guys," he said. Ron looked up from lecturing Remmy. "Time to go."

Five minutes later the group was ready. Harry lead them up to the new Department to the room where the first meeting of the Department of Slayers and Demonology was about to begin.

The four Aurors grabbed seats at the end of the long table that the Department had 'installed' the day before, and waited for the others members to arrive.

Buffy came first, discussing something with Giles. Then Dawn, the young girl Harry assumed was Buffy's sister, and Andrew, the light-saber guy. Xander, the one with the eye-patch, came next, talking to the red head Willow, the one Bill had been talking to before. Several more people that Harry didn't know by name yet then filled in, taking seats wherever they could find them. At last, everyone was there and the meeting could begin.

"Alright," said Buffy, standing up. "Guess this is our first meeting then."

Xander cheered.

"Thanks Xander," said Buffy glibly. "Anyway, I suppose we'd better start by making sure everyone knows where they're working. Just in case. Umm... Giles, why don't you list the people in your Department?"

"Okay." Giles stood up rather awkwardly, glancing in Harry's direction. "I'll be running the Watcher's Office, and Xander, Andrew and Roland." As he said the last name, Giles glanced at the only boy in the room Harry didn't know the name of yet.

Buffy smiled and Giles sat down. "Cool. I'll be running everything in general - but I'll also be training our new Slayers - right now that's Melinda, Sam, Emma and Kate."

Dawn looked at her sister, as if expecting her to ask her something, but when Buffy said nothing, she simply said, "I'll take Tracking - you know, where the Big Bad demons are and what Hellmouths are active right now. Melinda and Sam are going to be working with me on that."

"Excuse me," said Remmy. "What's a Hellmouth?"

Everyone turned to look at him, Harry included. It was Buffy that answered. "A Hellmouth's a centre of mystical convergence. It's basically a major area of demon activity and therefore something we've got to look out for." There was a pause. "And you are?"

Remmy stared at her for a moment, looking terrified. _Obviously not a public speaker, _thought Harry as he cut in, saving Remmy the trouble of answering. He could see the young Auror breathe a sigh of relief in the corner of his eyes as he said, to the whole Department, "His name is Dale Remmy and he's working with me. I'm Harry Potter - deputy head of the Auror Office - and this is Ron Weasley, and Lee Jordan. The Minister assigned us to work with you."

"Cool," said Buffy and she went to sit down.

"Umm... Buffy?" asked the redhead woman.

"Yeah, Will?"

"What's my job?"

"Oh... Um..." Buffy looked stricken as if she couldn't remember what the person's job was. She looked around desperately and Harry began to get the feeling that Buffy had actually forgotten to give her a job. "Magical Liaison?" she asked desperately.

The redhead looked at her quizzically for a moment, then shrugged and said, "Okay." And with that, the meeting moved on from introductions, to actual business.

"Question?" came the high, annoying voice that Buffy had already began to detest. It belonged to Melinda Bobbin, the ex-Hogwarts-student-turned-Slayer whose activation had led to the two communities discovering each other's existence. Frankly, given how irritating the girl - and her constant questions - were, she was starting to wish that the two groups had never me, if only so she wouldn't have to listen to her.

"Yes, Melinda?" asked Buffy, her annoyance showing in her voice.

"Where's the _other _Slayer? I heard there were two of you - before the whole First thing."

Buffy winced. _How _tactful _of her, _she thought. _People died - Potentials died - and she refers to it as the 'whole First thing'. Note to self, her next training session, equals, hell._

"Her name is Faith - and she's currently in South America, tracking down a Rogue."

"What's a Rogue?"

"A Slayer whose gone bad. Any _more _questions?"

"No."

Buffy glared at the girl and turned back to the meeting that was still continuing. _God, _she thought, _who knew administration could be this hard? _"Giles? You were saying?"

"Oh... Erm... Yes... Well, we've found several new Watcher candidates in Australia - Rona's been posted there for a while, after we got word that a new Hellmouth might be opening there."

"Okay. Good then. We'll be needing people to watch the backs of any Slayers we find there. If that's all..." Buffy paused for anyone to add anything. "I guess that's it then - meeting over. Now get back to work people."

As the other's dispersed, Harry went up to Buffy. "That was actually pretty well done, you know."

"Huh?" said Buffy, looking up from the papers she was packing up.

"The meeting - you ran it well."

"Oh. Right. Thanks."

"Listen - I was wondering if I could take Willow along to see one of our court cases - my wife Ginny's prosecuting - I figured, as Magical Liaison -" He gave her a look and Buffy was unable to stop herself from gulping. _Oh, godamnit, he knows I made that job up on the spot. Hopefully Willow hasn't noticed though. _"- it would help if she understood how our laws work and such."

"Sounds good. Willow?"

Willow turned from where she was chatting with Xander and Andrew by the door. "Yeah, Buffy?"

"You good to go see a Wizard trial?"

Willow stared at her blankly for a moment and then nodded. "Sounds good. As long as I don't need to do - or say - anything. You know I'm not a good public speaker - or singer. Remember the time that that kid's nightmares came true? And I had to _sing? _That was bad. Or that other time that-"

"I'll take that as a yes," interrupted Buffy. She turned to Harry. "She's all your's." Buffy turned back to her paperwork, the matter resolved.

Harry went over to Willow. "Come on - follow me."

Willow followed Harry out of the Department of Slayers and Demonology (_theyreally need a nickname for that, _thought Harry, _I'll go mad if I have to keep calling it that_) and into the elevator. From there they went to level ten, where the courtrooms were placed. There hadn't used to be an elevator going down this far, but people had got sick of walking and so had lobbied for Kingsley to have one installed.

"Here we are - courtroom five," said Harry, opening the door. Willow went in and he followed.

Silently, the two of them made their way towards the audience section of the Courtroom - another new feature introduced in recent years. Kingsley had made some big speech about 'unveiling the justice process' when they were first added, but Harry had always thought it was to get the reporters to shut up about 'secrets in the Ministry courtrooms,' a theme which had been prevalent for the first year or so after Voldemort's second defeat.

A young girl of around seventeen years sat in the chair at the centre of the room, but she was not chained to it. She simply sat there, looking nervous and scared as a bunch of wizards and witches in official clothing stared down at her.

In front of her, Draco Malfoy was pacing up and down as he asked her questions. By the sound of things, the trial had only just begun.

"Describe the events leading up to the attack," said Draco.

"I was --" the girl began, but she was cut off by a redhead woman in the prosecution calling out, "Objection! Question is narrative and not specific."

Harry grinned - it was Ginny.

"Objection sustained. Malfoy, please rephrase your question."

Malfoy grunted, an annoyed look passing across his face as he continued. "Why were you in Derill Street on the night of the attack?"

"I was heading from my parents to my friend's house. I'd just got my OWL results and I wanted to go over and see if she'd got her's yet. I got five Exceeds Expectations," the girl said, a note of pride in her voice.

"Okay. And what happened next?"

"I was walking down the street when these four men came at me. They had big cloaks and masks, and I knew what they were straight away."

"And what was that?"

"Death Eaters."

The effect of her words was astounding. One minute everyone was listening with only moderate interest, the next the entire courtroom was in an uproar, people yelling to be heard over one another (Harry included) - all trying to denounce her as quickly as possible. Ginny, Malfoy and the girl were about the only one's not screaming at the top of their lungs. Ginny was scribbling frantically on a piece of paper, Malfoy was grinning, and the girl looked about ready to faint.

At last, the judge muttered, _"Sonorus" _and their amplified voice rang out over the courtroom: "Order! Order! QUIET!"

With a few more mutterings, everyone fell silent.

"Now, continue, Miss Eralios, Mr Malfoy."

"Now..." said Malfoy, turning back to his client. "You said, Death Eaters?"

"Yes."

"So you were walking to your friends and Death Eaters turn up. What happened after that?"

"I attacked - what any sane person would do. I pulled out my wand and began to curse them with what I learnt from DADA. I hit all four of them with curses, and then, suddenly, my vision went black, and when I could see again there were four Muggle boys lying in front of me."

"Were the boys concious?"

"No... they looked as if they had been hit with spells."

"And these spells, did they coincide with the ones you cast?'

"Yes, they did."

"No further questions for the Defence."

Now Ginny stood up and walked over to where the girl sat, notebook in hand.

"You mentioned that you achieved six Exceeds Expectations in your OWLs. What were they?"

"DADA, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Divination and Arithmancy."

"And what house were you in?"

"Ravenclaw."

Ginny paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "Your parents are Doreen and Samson Eralios?" she asked.

Malfoy stood up. "Objection - not relevant!"

The judge paused. "Are you heading somewhere with this, Mrs Potter?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then please continue. Objection over-ruled."

Harry grinned once more. He always loved coming to watch Ginny in court whenever he had the time. For a start, it was gratifying to see how much the court system had changed. Nowadays, the defendant actually stood a chance, as the system had been modified to a more modern format rather than the same old system that had been used since probably the 1600's. The Wizengotam still acted as jury, but the persecution and defense worked differently and the judge was far more neutral.

"Thank you, ma'am. Now, Miss Eralios, your mother is currently in a wheelchair, is that correct?"

"... Yes." The girl looked angry now.

"How did she end up like that?"

"She was shot." The girl was having trouble getting the words out, as if she knew the effect they would have on her case. She was glaring viciously at Ginny.

"By a Muggle with a gun?"

"Yes! And it wasn't fair," the girl said, and Harry could tell a rant was coming. "She was just minding her own business, she didn't even know him, but those stupid Muggles! They don't know _anything. _He put my mother in a wheelchair and all he gets is seven years in prison! It's not fair! There was nothing we could do - those guns aren't normal. And their laws! If a Muggle _kills _someone, they can get let out after only ten or so years! Here they get life - like they should. But he was a _Muggle _and it was a _Muggle _weapon, so it went to a bloody _Muggle court._"

The girl fell silent at last. Harry suspected this had more to do with the look Malfoy was giving her than her running out of words. Obviously Ginny had found a sore spot.

Ginny continued questioning for a while more, asking if she knew the Muggles who were found lying at her feet, why she had tried to Apparate, that sort of thing. All the while the girl stuck to her story that Death Eaters attacked her. Finally, Ginny said, "No further questions," and sat down.

There were a few more witnesses - the Obliviators called to the scene, the witch who had found the Splinched girl, and (for the defence) a neighbour of the Eralios's who acted as a character witness.

Then at last, the Wizengamot (of which only 25 members were in attendance for the trial) cast its vote.

"All in favour of conviction?" asked the judge.

Seventeen hands were raised.

"All in favour of clearing the accused of all charges?"

Eight hands went up.

"Accused is convicted - Amalie Eralios is sentenced to two years, with a minimum of one, for unprovoked attacks on Muggles, to be served in an Under-aged Correctional facility."

The girl stared in shock for a moment and then she was lead off, her distraught parents and an annoyed Malfoy following quickly after. Just before he entered the door at the side of the courtroom, however, Malfoy turned and glared at Ginny. His gaze then shifted to the audience stalls, and Harry recieved a look of equal venom before Malfoy finally left, his robes swishing behind him.

"Well..." said Willow behind him. Harry jumped - he'd completely forgotten that she was there. "That was... interesting. Is a court-trial normally like that?"

"Not really," admitted Harry. "The trial was pretty much over the moment she mentioned Death Eaters."

Willow frowned, concentrating. "Bill mentioned those. Weren't they supporters of... You-Know-Who?"

"Voldemort," corrected Harry instinctively. "Yeah - they were. It was a stupid defence though. It's not even original."

He got up and began to walk out of the courtroom.

"What do you mean?" asked Willow, catching up and walking beside him.

Harry shrugged. "Plenty of people claimed to have seen Death Eaters in the first couple of years after Voldemort's death. Now though... well, it's a bit like that Muggle story..."

"The boy who cried wolf?" offered Willow.

"Yeah, that one."

At that moment, they reached the hallway outside the courtroom. Harry had barely stepped into the hallway before he was bombarded by Ginny, who ran straight up to him.

"You came!" she cried, delight on her face. "I thought you would be stuck babysitting those weirdo's at the new Depart-"

Harry coughed, cutting Ginny off. Ginny looked over Harry's shoulder to where Willow stood, awkwardly staring at the floor.

"Oh. Oops." Ginny went over to Willow, both of them now with their faces as red as their hair. "Hi, I'm Ginny Potter, Harry's wife."

"Willow Rosenberg - one of the new _weirdo's,_" said Willow, but not unkindly.

"Oops?" repeated Ginny.

"It's okay - if it's any consolation, all this is about the same level of weird to me as we must be to you. I mean, wizard courts? And wands? You were really good by the way - with the prosecution-thingy."

"It's nothing - I get to argue for a living, it's not that difficult."

"She does it enough at home," muttered Harry. Ginny hit him on the shoulder. "Ow."

"You deserve it," said Ginny. "Well, I've got to go. New case to prepare for, no doubt. They're overworking me, I swear. Bye!" And with that she was off.

Harry and Willow stood for a moment watching her go. At last Willow said, "Well... she was... nice."

Harry laughed slightly. "She's not normally that hypo - must be the idea of having got one-up on Malfoy."

"Yeah, I noticed him, he was creepy. Is he a bad guy, or something?"

"Not really. His dad was a Death Eater and he was almost one, but he managed to avoid Azkaban because he was underaged. And besides, he never actually killed anyone on Voldemort's orders. So... he became a defence lawyer, protecting pure bloods from the law for a living." Harry glanced at his watch. "Ah, damn, I've got to go - can you get back to the Department on your own?"

Willow nodded. "I'll be fine."

"Good." Harry turned and walked off, leaving Willow alone to find her own way back.

**A/N: **Hi! It's me. This chapter's up a lot faster than the last one - mostly because I actually have some semblance of a _plan _now. Seriously, until now I was virtually flying blind.

Still, I hope you enjoy and please REVIEW.

Even if it sucks, REVIEW. Cos seriously people - I love reviews (not that you hadn't got that already...)

-- Namiko-kii


	4. Department of Mysteries

**Travesty International**

**- A BtVS/HP Crossover**

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am neither.

**Time Setting: **Set seven years after Deathly Hallows, one year after Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. I am ignoring some of DH Epilogue, and the entire 'Season Eight' comics, as well as Season Five of Angel. Sorry to those who like those parts but it's about creative freedom plus I was facing some serious plot-bunny-problems should these be included in the 'back story'.

**A/N: **Hey. Sorry I took so long getting this chapter up - holidays and all. But here you go, hope you enjoy it.

**Pairings: **Mainly WillowBill, currently unsure if there will be any others. PM me if you have ideas! I'm open to suggestions in regards to some characters.

* * *

Time passed, the Scooby Gang became more accustomed to life with the Ministry, and the people in the Ministry became more relaxed around the Scoobies. There were awkward moments, and visitors to the new Department were often subject to sudden silence when they asked a question that no-one wanted to answer.

The Aurors assigned to the Department - Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Dale Remmy and Lee Jordan - fitted in as well as they could, with Dale becoming a prominent feature at the Tracking Office, run by Dawn. This was probably because she was the only one who would put up with his clumsiness. And this in turn was because every afternoon, as payback for keeping Dale out of his way, Ron Weasley would appear and repair any broken items with a charm.

As for Willow, she did her job - although she wasn't exactly sure what that contained - and kept her head down, still worried that someone would discover what had happened with 'Dark Willow'.

So time passed.

* * *

Willow was sitting in her office one day - about a fortnight after the Department started - when a small paper aeroplane flew through the door and landed on Willow's desk.

She opened it and read:

_Will Miss Willow Rosenberg please visit the Department of Mysteries a.s.a.p?_

_We are in need of her assistance with regards to a prophecy._

_Signed, _

_The Unspeakables._

Willow frowned - what was an Unspeakable? And why would they need her help?

She shrugged. At least this would give her something to do. Based the amount of work on her desk compared to Buffy's, she was beginning to think that her job was mostly an empty title.

"I've got to go, Buffy," she said to Buffy, who was lounging about on a chair in her office, ranting about paperwork while eating a chocolate bar. "Apparently they want me in the Department of Mysteries. See you."

"Buhey," said Buffy through a mouthful of chocolate. Willow assumed she meant 'bye'.

* * *

When Willow reached the Department of Mysteries, there was a man waiting for her. He had grey hair and almost-black eyes that seemed to see right through you.

"Hello," he said. "You must be Miss Rosenberg. My name is... well, none of us use names here - it distracts from the work we do, but I suppose you can call me Noah - not that's my real name."

Willow blinked, wondering what the hell he was going on about. "Okay..."

The man's - Noah's - eyes lit up. "Ah! But of course, you would have no knowledge of what we do. You are from the new Department, yes?"

Willow nodded, turning slightly pink. How was it that everyone managed to know who she was? Even walking from the entrance to her office, she'd get stopped by five or six people, wanting to know how she was adjusting to the magical world. It was downright disconcerting.

"Good, good," muttered Noah to himself. "That means... no preconceptions... an open mind, good." He was silent for a moment then, as if remembering that she was there, said, "Come on - follow me, follow me."

He led her down a corridor to a circular room. Stepping inside, Willow barely had time to notice that there were twelve identical doors before the room began to spin - or rather, the walls. The candles flickered, casting their blue light haphazardly around the room, until at last it slowed and the doors came to rest.

To Willow the doors looked absolutely identical but the moment the movement had stopped, Noah went to one door, muttering to himself again, and opened it.

"Here we are," he said, leading Willow through the door. "Nice and easy, that's the way. Wouldn't want to trip..." Willow frowned once more. This man was definitely _strange._

The room he lead her into was rather long (more a corridor than a room) and filled with clocks of all different shapes and sizes, all ticking slightly out of time, so that the room was never silent. Willow was guided quickly through to a door at the end, next to what appeared to be a shelf full of hourglasses.

"Welcome, to the Hall of Prophecies!" said Noah excitably.

Willow gazed in wonder at the scene before her. Shelves upon shelves filled the hall, stretching out beyond a point that she could see. That was how large the room was. Each shelf must have been at least four times her height, and they were home to thousands of glass orbs, each containing a swirling bit of bluish mist.

"Woah..." whispered Willow under her breathe.

"Amazing, isn't it? I get that feeling every time I come here - and I've been in the Department for thirty years come Tuesday. Now, this way, this way." He led Willow through the hall, following some map in his head. After four minutes of walking he stopped. "Now... what do you think?" he asked, pointing to something on the shelf.

The orb he pointed looked like any of the others she had seen, with one difference. The light had gone out of it. All the others radiated a blue glow, but this one contained only grey mist.

"Well, pick it up." Noah seemed unable to contain his excitement.

Hesitantly Willow did so, and for some inexplicable reason, she put the orb to her ear.

A soft, whispering voice echoed in her head:

_'Into every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, with the power to fight the demons and drive back the dark.'_

"But... this is a Slayer prophecy!" exclaimed Willow. "I thought you people didn't know anything _about _the Slayer."

Noah grinned. "_Technically _no. But in the department of Mysteries... well, everything gets found out sooner or later. And a whole other 'world'... That would fall under the sooner category."

"Are there any others?" asked Willow eagerly. If they had one Slayer prophecy, there could be others: the Master prophecy, the prophecies that Cassie had made, hell, every demon-relate prophecy in existence, could be contained within this hall.

Noah chuckled. "This _is_ the Hall of Prophecies."

"I mean, other Slayer-related prophecies?"

Noah frowned. "I... don't know. My work had been focussed on this particular prophecy. I did not think there were others. I was just trying to work out what it meant, and why it had dimmed so suddenly."

"Oh." Willow's face fell.

Noah looked at her for a moment, his brows lowered as if he was thinking very deeply and hard about something. "Now, what did you say your job was at that Department?"

"Magical Liaison," replied Willow.

"Uh-huh. And this job... would it be very demanding? Or do you have a lot of free time on your hands?"

Willow began to grin, and the smile that appeared on Noah's face suggested he had guessed what her answer would be.

"_Actually _I've got a lot of free time. I mean, nobody's really asked me to do anything yet, so I kind of just sit at my desk and twiddle my thumbs until one of the others decides they have too much stuff and come to me for help."

"Well then, if you were to come help me out..."

"Sounds great!" she said immediately.

Noah clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Just excellent, excellent... I'll let the others know, we'll get you a pass, and then, yes, yes, that will work." He smiled again. "I'll send a memo up later - once I've explained it all to the others - I'm sure they'll understand though."

"What do you mean 'understand'?" asked Willow, a slight frown marring her new happiness.

"Well... an outsider. You know, they won't like that. But I'm sure I could convince them." But now Noah looked slightly anxious. "You're _sure _you don't know any types of magic?"

Willow hesitated - could she really trust Noah? - and then decided that she might as well take the risk. "Actually, I know Wiccan magic."

"Really?" Noah's eyes lit up. "I haven't met any Wiccans - the others will certainly allow you to work here in this case. Even Trolix - she'd love to have a chance to meet an actual Wiccan. That's her field of expertise, you see."

Willow nodded, trying to pretend that any of what he'd just said made sense to her.

"I'll show you to the exit," added Noah.

Rambling happily, Noah took her through the Time room, then the circular room before leaving her at the exit with a wave and a smile.

_Okay... _thought Willow as she turned and began to walk back to the elevator. _And the strange employee of the year goes to..._

The next day, another memo arrived for Willow. Whistling happily to herself, Willow unfolded the letter and read:

_To Miss Willow Rosenberg,_

_The others have agreed!_

_Please come to the circular room at twelve o'clock_

_and you will be introduced to the other members of the Department._

_Signed,_

_Noah._

Willow glanced up at the clock - only ten o'clock - and settled down for another two hours of helping Xander with Watcher applicants and then she would be able to go off and do something interesting.

Willow stood in the centre of the circular room, waiting. She was certain it was twelve o'clock already, but maybe she had got it wrong. She felt awkward - standing in the middle of the room all alone.

Then, all of a sudden, there was a great clanging noise, coming from behind one of the doors. For a second, Willow was unable to remember what caused it, but then she realised: all the clocks in the time room must have just reached twelve o'clock.

About the same time another door swung open and out stepped Noah, carrying a sack. "Ah! You're here," he said happily. "I've arranged for you to work in the Death chamber. No need to disturb the others at their work."

Willow shrugged. "Okay."

Noah smiled again. "Well... follow me!"

This time, Noah led her through a different door in the Time room, into another room. This one was also very large. It was dimply lit and the air was still and cold. In the centre of the room was a large stone pit. Over the pit there was an archway, in which hung a tattered black veil, fluttering slightly in a non-existent breeze.

"Here you are," said Noah, handing over the sack. "I've got to go now - work to do, work to do. Goodbye." And then he vanished, with a small crack.

Willow raised her eyebrows. _Honestly, _she thought, _I'm never going to get used to their magic._

With a shrug, she sat down and opened the sack. In it were many more of the prophecy orbs, some glowing, some not. Smiling now, Willow began pulling orbs out of the sack and placing them carefully on the ground. She pulled a piece of parchment and a pen out of her pocket.

_Time to get to work._

* * *

Willow frowned as she studied yet another orb. This prophecy wasn't one that she recognised - although it had already faded - and she was having a lot of trouble trying to decipher its meaning.

_The son of the ensouled shall slay the demon Sahjhan._

Willow held the orb up to the light once more, as if by doing so she could figure out what it meant. Suddenly the orb began to rise up all on its own.

"What the hell!" yelled Willow, jumping backwards from the now floating orb.

From behind her she heard a burst of laughter and she whirled around to see Bill Weasley, bent over double with laughter.

"What are you doing here!?!" Willow asked, more than a little annoyed. She didn't like being made an idiot of.

"I was just dropping off some things to an Unspeakable - restricted ingredients, and I saw you and I couldn't r-resist..." Bill trailed off, grinning.

Willow glared at him for a moment. "Meanie!"

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment!" Willow sighed, exasperated, but in truth she wasn't really that annoyed. She'd only seen Bill once or twice in the halls since he'd shown her to the Department, and had found herself wanting to talk to him. She sat down again on the floor.

"So," said Bill, sitting down next to her. "How's life in the new Department?"

"It's... okay," she admitted.

"Which is why you're hiding in the Department of Mysteries looking at a bunch of shiny orbs?"

Willow blushed slightly. "Yeah, well, there wasn't much to do. Magical Liaison is starting to sound like an empty title."

"It's the same with all Liaisons. Well, it is with me. The goblins are actually getting along with us right now so I know what you mean."

Willow sighed. "Yeah, well at least _you've _got magic. I have to do everything the normal way."

Bill frowned slightly, thinking. "If only you'd gotten an owl..."

Now it was Willow's turn to frown. "What do you mean, an owl?"

"If you're a witch, they send you a Hogwarts letter when you turn eleven, telling you about it. The letter comes by owl."

Willow laughed. "I can see why no-one in Sunnydale ever got a letter then. At least that I know of."

"What do you mean?" asked Bill, confused.

"Our entire town was pretty much creature-central, and some of those would eat _anything. _The poor owls would probably get eaten before they could even reach their destination."

Bill laughed. "So, have you ever tried magic? Our kind, anyway. You probably had your own types of magic in... Sunnydale, was it?"

"Nope, never tried it," said Willow, ignoring the second part of Bill's statement. She'd told Noah about her magic, but she wasn't sure if she would tell anyone else.

"Here," he said, passing her his wand. Behind him, the orb was still floating mid-air. "Try it."

Hesitantly, Willow took the wand. She looked at it for a moment and said, "Umm... What am I supposed to do?"

Bill laughed. He reached behind him and plucked the orb out of the air. "Concentrate on the orb and--" He paused, then put the orb down. "On second thoughts, let's use something less... fragile." Ignoring the glare Willow was giving him, he reached into a pocket in his robe and pulled out a piece of paper. Scrunching in up into a ball, he then said, "Concentrate on the piece of paper, and then swish and flick the wand -" he demonstrated the movement with his free hand "-and say, '_Wingardium Leviosa'_."

Willow frowned, concentrating. She pointed the wand at the scrunched-up paper and said, "Wingardium Leviosa."

The paper hesitantly floated about a foot in the air. Willow eyes widened in amazement.

"Woah," she said simply, the paper falling back down as she did.

Bill smiled. "Looks like the demons got themselves an owl snack," he joked, earning himself a laugh from Willow.

"So what does this mean?"

Bill looked serious again. "Well, I can't really see you going to Hogwarts - bit late for that, no offense - so I guess you can either ignore it, or get a wand and someone to teach you."

"Oh." Willow looked crestfallen. Where would she find a teacher? Obviously none of the Scoobies could teach her, and she wasn't really sure of any of the people she'd met since joining the Ministry would be willing to teach her. Unless... "Could you teach me?"

Billl turned slightly red. "Umm... I guess... Sure," he said eventually.

Willow smiled at him then stared at her shoes, embarrassed. "So, what was that about a wand?"

"You get one from at Olivander's, in Diagon Alley. Well, there are other places but Olivander's is the best."

"How do I get there?"

"I'll take you... if you want."

Willow looked up at him. Despite his scars, his eyes were kind and she had to admit that he was rather good-looking. Wait, she didn't just think that last part. "That's be... cool." She'd been about to say 'nice' but that would hae sounded too cliché.

"So... you met Noah yet?" asked Bill. And with that the conversation turned to other, less awkward topics.

* * *

"Willow! Where have you been?" cried Buffy, rushing up to her friend. "I've been looking all over for you - I need help with these files. Dawn sent them to me - apparently there's been a new Slayer found in Australia and I need to sign for temporary guardianship."

"Then why are you giving them to _me?_" asked Willow.

Buffy muttered something.

"What was that?"

"I need to go have lunch - I've been stuck at my desk all day - my stomach is about to start _attacking_ me_,_ Wills. Please, pretty please? With sprinkles on top?"

Willows sighed. Despite her break, it looked like she was back to extra-work duty. "Fine," she said with a small smile. "Just be back quickly, okay?"

"Thanks, Will, you are a _goddess_," said Buffy, before rushing out the door quickly. Willow laughed quietly to herself and settled down to do the paperwork.

By the time Buffy got back, Willow had finished most of the forms. Buffy quickly signed off the forms, then she and Willow sat down to chat for a while. They'd barely had any 'hanging-out' time, what with all the adjusting and new work, and hadn't really spoken for a while.

"Hey Will?" said Buffy.

"Yeah?"

"You know that guy who showed you to the Department back at the start?"

"What? Bill?"

"Yeah." Buffy smirked slightly. "Do you like him?"

"Wh-what?" stammered Willow.

"Do you _like _him?" repeated Buffy, wiggling her eyebrows as she said this.

"I don't know. He's nice, and good-looking--"

"If you ignore the scars all over his face," interrupted Buffy. She stared at Willow pointedly.

"Yeah, well..." Willow blushed. "I don't know. I barely know the guy."

"Uh-huh. Well, I was talking to Harry--"

"You were talking to the _Auror guy _about this?"

"Hell, no, Will. I'm not _that _indiscrete. I just asked him who the guy was. Did you know he's 33? Isn't that a bit old for you, Will?"

Willow snorted, unable to resist taking a jibe at Buffy. "This from the girl who dated the two hundred year old vampire."

"Point taken."

There was a pause, and then both of them burst out laughing. Internally, Willow breathed a sigh of relief: subject successful changed.

* * *

**A/N:** So, what do you think? I know the end is a bit awkward but it's the best I could do. Also, please forgive me my Angel reference - I know at this stage Connor has already appeared and all that, but I couldn't resist. Please review - reviews are my lifeblood. And all it takes is a few seconds of your time, to make my day.

- Nami


	5. A Trip To Ollivander's

**Travesty International**

**- A BtVS/HP Crossover**

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am neither.

**Time Setting: **Set seven years after Deathly Hallows, one year after Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. (Which actually works if you look at the dates for both.) I am ignoring some of DH Epilogue, and the entire 'Season Eight' comics, as well as Season Five of Angel. Sorry to those who like those parts but it's about creative freedom plus I was facing some serious plot-bunny-problems should these be included in the 'back story'.

**Pairings: **Mainly WillowBill. Also HarryGinny, RonHermione and eventual DawnOC. Other relationships are planned that I'm keeping secret. Aren't I evil?

**A/N**: God, I just read over the last couple of chapters and they're so _choppy_. I'll try and make everything connect more smoothly. Sorry, readers, for having to put up with that...

**Thanks: **LadyVisionary for letting me borrow the idea of a wand with a werewolf core. I got the idea from her Out of the Blue series. Go read the series, or the re-write, Road of Innocence, here on Fanfiction! It's really good.

* * *

Bill stood outside Willow's appartment, shuffling his feet.

_What am I even doing here? _he asked himself for what felt like the ten thousandth time. He reached out to press the doorbell and then stopped. He'd been doing the same thing for the last ten minutes - almost working up the courage to ring the damn doorbell, and then deciding against it.

The old Muggle lady in the apartment across the hall had come out three times 'to see if the milk was there' and to give him strange looks. She was practically glaring at him now.

What really bothered him, was that he didn't know _why _he was bothered in the first place. He was just helping her out - showing her to Diagon Alley so she could get a wand. So why the hell did he feels so embarrassed?

It wasn't like she was interested in him, or him in her. After all, he was too old for her, too scarred - both physically and emotionally. She was young, and happy, and (he almost kicked himself for admitting it) _beautiful. _

"Ahem," coughed the old lady deliberately. It was the sort of cough that was usually followed by a sermon on 'the problem with you young ones today' (despite the fact that Bill was in his early thirties now) and so Bill quickly leant forward and pressed the doorbell, figuring the best way to avoid such a speech, and to end his own self-depravation, was to simply talk to Willow.

There was a moment of silence, what sounded like urgent whispering, then a clattering of feet and the door opened to reveal a grinning... Buffy_?_

"Oh, hey Bill," said Buffy, who was still in her dressing gown. "Willow'll just be a moment. Come in."

Awkwardly, Bill stepped inside.

"Just... sit on the couch or somethin'," said Buffy, waving a hand vaguely in the direction of the colored... well, there was no word for it other than mass. One half was rather neat and orderly, the other was covered in a menagerie of clothes and stuff that- Wait. Did something just _move _in there? Either way, it was quite obvious - to him at least - which side would have been Willow's.

"You want coffee?" asked Buffy.

"No, thank you," said Bill, sitting down on the cleaner side of the couch. "Although, if you've got any tea"

"Huh." There was something in Buffy's tone that seemed to say, _You damn English and your tea. _Or maybe that was just his imagination.

Bill sat awkwardly while Buffy made herself a cup of coffee. There was still no sign of Willow.

Buffy plonked down on her side of the couch. She turned to face him, a sudden look of seriousness on her face.

"Look," she said. "I don't know what the hell is up with you and Wills -" She raised a hand when he went to protest. "--And frankly, I don't need to know details, or even if there _is _anything. But she's my best friend - so I'm allowed to be possessive. And if you so much as hurt one hair..." She trailed off, apparently unable to think of a satisfying end to the threat. "So basically... I'll be watching you - but not in a creepy stalker way, just a what-the-hell-are-you-doing way." Buffy grinned, all smiles again, as she turned slightly to look at something over Bill's shoulder. "Oh, hey, Wills. You took long enough."

Bill turned around to see Willow behind him. She was wearing jeans, a pale blue jacket and a cream shirt. "Um... Hey," he said lamely. "You ready to go?"

Willow smiled at him. "Sure thing."

* * *

Dawn sighed, looking at the amount of work in front of her. It was a Saturday, for god's sake, she should be out having fun like everyone else, not working her way through a bunch of papers about demon sightings. Well, at least it beat normal paperwork. Instead of actually filling out forms like everyone else had to do, she simply filed them in the correct folder and add the appropriate marker to the Map.

The Map - note the capital letter - was the central piece of the Tracking room, and covered an entire wall on its own.

It included a huge map of the world, as well as a more detailed one of the British Isles. Spread out across it were dots of various colours, each meaning a different thing. The Map itself had been enchanted so that, when a new marker was added, the marker became part of the map itself.

If something happened relating to that marker, it would flash to notify Dawn or whoever was in the Tracking office at the time. A small scroll of writing would appear with details of the incident - or as much as could be gathered by the spell, which was not always a huge amount. When Harry Potter had come in to work on the Map's enchantments, he had mentioned something about it reminding him of the Marauder's Map, whatever that was.

Shifting through the papers, she found the one that was the most interesting to read (or at least, least boring) and began to get to work.

Frankly, it was all Buffy's fault. If she'd just given Dawn some more people to work with - instead of just Melinda, Samantha, and Beth. Melinda didn't even do anything - she just sat at her desk, filing her _nails _for god's sake.

_Who _actually _filed their nails? It's like something out of a bad drama show. _

From outside, there came a loud crash.

Dawn jumped up and, grabbing a stake from her draw (it had taken her ages to get Buffy to let her take the weapon into the Ministry, even when Dawn protested that all the wizards had wands, she should at least be able to defend herself her way) and inched towards the room.

With a half-yell she ran into the hallway, to be greeted by a rather surprised - and almost frightened - man.

"Oh, it's you, Dale," she said. "I heard a noise."

The young Auror looked at her, still a bit confused. "I... dropped my stuff," he said slowly and pointed to the pile now strewn haphazardly over the floor. "What's with the stake?"

Dawn glanced at her arm, where she still held the stake in near-attack position. "Oh? This? Old habits die hard I guess." She tucked it into her belt.

"What are you doing here? It's a Saturday."

"I could ask you the same thing."

Dale turned slightly red. "Oh." He sounded embarrassed. "Mr. Weasley told me to do all this paperwork by Monday, and I hadn't finished it, and Lilith would kill me if I did it at home, so I just came here, but I ran out of ink and-"

"You're ranting," interrupted Dawn. "Okay, who's Lilith?" She didn't think it was his girlfriend - Dale didn't seem the 'having-a-girlfriend' type.

Dale shrugged as he bent to pick up the fallen papers and objects. "My sister. She's just finished Hogwarts and didn't want to live with our parents, so I'm letting her use the spare bedroom at my place. She doesn't like it when I bring my stuff home, says it disturbs her psyche."

Dawn snorted. Dale could be such a pushover sometimes. "Her _psyche?_"

"Yeah - Lilith's a seer... or at least, I think she is. She's training to work at Hogwarts - she wants to be the Divination teacher."

"Oh." From what Dawn had gathered - mostly from questioning Dale or any wizards that popped into her office with news on demon activities - Divination was a generally disliked subject to take. A bludge subject, but an annoying bludge.

Together the two of them restacked all of Dale's fallen papers. The ink bottle he had collected had broken and spilled over a lot of his work, but he fixed that with a flick of his wand. He grinned slightly at the look of surprise on her face. "When you're as clumsy as I am, you learn to clean up messes."

"How much work do you have left, anyway?" asked Dawn.

"Not a lot - only one form to go. I just ran out of ink, is all. Why?"

"Well... By the time you go get another bottle of ink, get back to your office, fill out the form then take the elevator up again, well, it'll take age s is all. Why don't you just do the work here? I'll lend you a chair in my office - and I'm pretty sure we've got some spare ink."

_And maybe when you've finished, you can help me with the mountain of work I've still got to do, _thought Dawn.

"Oh, okay." Dale still looked slightly confused but he took his stuff into Dawn's office all the same.

"Here," said Dawn handing him one of the ink bottles from Melinda's desk. She wouldn't miss it.

And even if she did, Dawn didn't really care.

* * *

Bill and Willow walked into the Leaky Cauldron, which was rather empty for a Saturday.

"Hi, William. Haven't seen you in here for a while," said the bartender, Tom.

Bill smiled. "Yeah, work's been pretty hectic."

"Well, stop in, whenever. I could use the customers." Tom gestured to the empty tables. "Seems everyone's quit drinkin' all of a'sudden."

"I'm sorry for your loss," said Bill with mock sympathy.

"Huh. At least I'll be gettin' the new Hogwarts graduates soon. They're always good for a pint."

Tom turned back to cleaning the bench.

As Bill lead Willow to the back of the bar, Willow asked, "Who _was _that man?"

"That's just Tom. He's the Leaky Cauldron's owner, and bartender. Although I think that's got more to do with the fact that he hates paying people than anything else. He's nice enough, if you get past his... oddities."

Willow simply looked at him in disbelief before turning to look at the wall in front of them..

"So, what's with the blank wall?"

"You'll see," said Bill. He leaned forward and tapped several of the bricks on the wall with his wand. The bricks began to fold in, creating an archway which led to Diagon Alley.

Bill led an astonished Willow through the streets of Diagon Alley. She kept stopping to look at everything, and so it was more than half an hour before they reached Ollivander's.

The store was mustier than usual, the bell that rang as they entered sending a shiver of dust through the room. Like Tom, Ollivander's business seemed to be at less than peak traffic, something probably to do with the fact that no young wizards and witches were coming to buy their wands for school.

"Ah, Mr William Weasley," said Ollivander, peering over his glasses. "How good to see you again. Let me see - oak, phoenix feather, nine and a half inches, was it not?"

"Yes. It was."

"Working well? No problems at all?"

"As well as the day I bought it."

"Good, good. But then, what can I do for you today?"

Bill nodded towards Willow, and, pushing her forward slightly, said, "This is Willow Rosenberg. Turns out she's a witch who never got a letter. She needs a wand."

"Ah, indeed." Ollivander turned towards Willow, his gaze narrowing as he examined the nervous redhead before him. "Which is your wand hand, Miss Rosenberg?"

"My- my right," said Willow uncertainly.

Ollivander waved his wand, and a roll of measuring tape flew into the air and began to measure the length of Willow's whole arm, forearm, hand, fingers and, strangely, the distance between her nostrils.

Bill snorted at the look on Willow's face as the last occurred.

Ollivander looked at a piece of paper upon which the measurements had been written.

"Let's see then..." he said, grabbing a box off the shelves and handing Willow the wand it contained. "Mahogany, twelve inches, unicorn hair. Go on, give it a wave."

Willow did so, a little uncertain. Nothing happened.

Ollivander reached for another one. "How about this? Yew, dragon heart-string, eight and a quarter inches, rather brittle."

Once more, nothing happened.

Five wands later, Ollivander was starting to get rather worried. After twenty, Bill imagined that he could see sweat drops on the old man's forehead. After fifty, he looked perplexed to the point of fainting.

"Oh dear, oh dear," said Ollivander an hour and a half later, looking at the pile of wands next to Willow, who also had a rather hopeless expression on her face. "There doesn't seem to be one that works... I could try others, but, I don't think..."

"Come on, Bill," she said, turning to leave. "It was probably a fluke, I'm not a--"

"Wait!" called Ollivander. "There is... one more wand."

Bill looked up at the tone in the man's voice. He sounded extremely cautious. This was the man who'd presented Harry with the wand twin to Voldemort's and yet he sounded almost... scared.

"What is it, Mr Ollivander?" he asked.

Ollivander jumped, having seemingly forgotten Bill was there. "I'll... fetch it."

He went into the back of the store. When he came out, he was carrying another wand box.

Unlike the others, which were all black with a silver ribbon, this was gold with the words '_Experimental wand: do not touch_' written on it in red.

"Here, Miss Rosenberg," said Ollivander, still cautiously. "Ten inches, maple... werewolf's hair..."

Bill looked up. _Werewolf's hair? Which werewolf? _

Willow took the wand from Ollivander's hands. Biting her lip in concentration, she waved the wand.

A small set of red sparks appeared from the end of the wand.

"Excellent!" cried Ollivander. "Oh, this is excellent! We have found you a wand."

Willow paid for the wand with some of her salary.

The entire time, Ollivander continued to watch Willow carefully, staring at her as if he could see right through her.

"That's the first wand of werewolf hair I've ever made, Miss Rosenberg. I trust you'll take good care of it."

Willow and Bill turned to leave, but Ollivander stopped them.

"Ah, Mr Weasley, if I could have a moment..."

Bill looked at Willow. "It's okay," she said with a shrug. "I'll wait outside." She went out the door, the small bell ringing once more as she left.

Ollivander beckoned Bill forward. Bill smiled at the old man. "What is it, Mr Ollivander?" he asked.

Ollivander frowned slightly. "I must thank you... once more... for the kindness you and your wife Fleur showed me when I was recuperating at your cottage."

The smile vanished from Bill's face. His voice was rather cold when he replied. "You're welcome, Mr Ollivander, but Fleur and I are no longer married. Good day." Then he turned and briskly left the shop.

"So, what was that about?" asked Willow as he rejoined her outside.

"Oh, nothing, he just wanted to reprimand me for not explaining about the wand buying process to you," lied Bill.

"Okay," said Willow happily. "I liked him. He was weird, but nice."

"Hmm..." was all Bill said.

Willow was silent for a moment. At last, she turned and looked at him.

"So, where are we going next?"

"What?"

"Where next? I mean, I've got a wand - and that's great - but won't I need books and stuff, so I can actually learn the spells? And I wouldn't mind some of those robes everyone wears - I'm sick of people asking why I'm in 'Muggle' clothes all the time. And I've heard you can get an owl somewhere as a pet, or maybe a cat... Bill, are you alright? You've got this strange look on your face."

Bill cursed himself inwardly. He'd been thinking about his conversation with Ollivander, and somehow his thoughts had turned to how, well, funny (he wouldn't let himself think the word 'cute') Willow was when she ranted.

"I'm fine," he said off-handedly. "So... robes?"

Willow smiled widely. "Yup."

"To Madame Malkin's it is then."

The two of them made their way to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. The only other customers was a middle aged witch and her husband, so they were quickly taken care of. Willow bought two standard black robes and one winter coat, as well as a pointed hat - Bill told her she wouldn't really need it but she still bought it, simply because she liked the look of it.

Of course, she hadn't earned that much Wizarding money yet so most of what she bought things with was Muggle money. Bill had had to explain the exchange rates to a few of the shopkeepers (something he remembered automatically from his time at Gringotts) but in the end it all worked out fine.

After that, they looked at various other shops - getting Willow a few items to help with her learning magic. At last they reached the Magical Menagerie. Sometime between Ollivander's and Flourish and Blotts, Willow had decided not to get an owl and instead get something else.

She spent a while looking at all the strange - to her at least - creatures in the store. The rabbit turning into a top hat made her laugh, and she was fascinated by the little black mice. But in the end, she chose a cat of a faded brown colour with a little white spot on one of its ears.

"What are you going to call it?" asked Bill as they left the store.

"I don't know," mused Willow. "I have this strange urge to call it 'Mr Pointy' but I doubt Buffy would appreciate that."

She shrugged at Bill's confused look. "It's what she calls her best stake - you know, for fighting vamps. Only... Buffy hasn't been fighting vamps for a while - if you ask me it's because..." She trailed off.

"Because?" Bill prompted. He didn't want to pry, but the entire history of the 'Scooby Gang' as he'd heard Willow call them was a closed book to him, and frankly he was rather curious.

Willow looked embarrassed, and almost irritated, as if she didn't want to talk about it at all. "Oh... It's just... Our last big battle, we lost a lot of friends. Buffy... Oh, look at that!" She pointed to the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. "An actual broom."

Smiling to himself at Willow's unsubtle attempt to change the subject, Bill said, "Yeah. You were saying?"

Willow sighed - she obviously knew he wasn't going to let it go. But what Bill didn't expect was the harshness in her voice when she spoke. "Look, Bill, I really appreciate you helping me with all of this, but some secrets need to stay secrets. Okay?" She walked away.

"Willow, wait up!" said Bill, running after her.

"What is it?"

Bill flinched. "I'm... Do you even know the way back?"

Willow paused once more. "No," she said grudgingly. "Just... can you take me home? Okay? I'm sorry but - I'm not going to talk about it."

Bill put his hands up in the air and took a step back. "I'm trying to help, you know."

"Yeah, but... Some things should stay secret..." said Willow, and although Bill couldn't tell, it sounded almost as if there was regret in her voice.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, what do you think? Send a review my way and let me know!

- Nami.

P.S. Has been reposted after I realised the randomness of some of the side comments made in this chapter. No real loss, as no one seemed to understand what I was going on about...


	6. Guidance

**Travesty International**

**- A BtVS/HP Crossover**

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am neither.

**Time Setting: **Set seven years after Deathly Hallows, one year after Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. (Which actually works if you look at the dates for both.) I am ignoring some of DH Epilogue, and the entire 'Season Eight' comics, as well as Season Five of Angel. Sorry to those who like those parts but it's about creative freedom plus I was facing some serious plot-bunny-problems should these be included in the 'back story'.

**Pairings: **Mainly WillowBill. Also HarryGinny, RonHermione and eventual DawnOC. Other relationships are planned that I'm keeping secret. Aren't I evil?

**A/N: **My apologies if this one is a bit fluffy, but my brain is on overload and besides, the stuff in this chapter had to get written at some stage.

Also, I'm starving for reviews here. As of last count, 25 people have this story on alert. If all of you – or even half – could drop me a line, just click that little button and send a review my way, I would be eternally grateful, and you'd all get virtual cookies! (Plus, I'd get the next few chapters out super quick.)

* * *

Willow and Bill walked in strained, awkward silence back to the streets of Muggle London, whereupon Willow stopped and began to look for a bus or taxi.

"Willow," said Bill as she attempted to stop yet another taxi. "I'm sorry about before, okay? I shouldn't have pried." He felt like a first year for saying it like that, but couldn't think of a better way to apologise.

"Bill, not now!" said Willow, although a bit less angrily than before. "Taxi!" But they just kept rushing past her.

"Here," said Bill, and he stuck his wand out over the road. Instantly there was a squeal and a crash, and a purple bus appeared in front of them.

A skinny, pimple faced boy in his late teens – _probably nineteen, _thought Bill – appeared at the door of the bus and glared at them. "Oi! What cha summon us in a Muggle street for? Don't cha know 'ow much magic it takes te' keep the thing in slow motion?" he protested. Around them, the Muggles were moving at a rate of a metre a minute.

"Sorry," said Bill. He turned to Willow. "This is the Knight Bus. Tell them where you want to go and they'll take you." He handed the boy some money. "That's for the fare, kid."

Willow opened her mouth to protest but then stopped. She knew they wouldn't take Muggle money. Without another word, she stepped onto the bus.

Bill turned to leave but just as the bus doors began to shut, he heard her cry out. "Bill!"

He turned around, one eyebrow raised.

"I'll... see you at work on Monday," said Willow simply, and then the door shut. There was another purple flash as the bus started off, and time returned to normal for the Muggles. None of them noticed that the redhead girl was gone.

With a sigh, Bill walked back into the Leaky Cauldron, and then Disapparated.

* * *

Willow walked into the apartment she and Buffy shared, carrying bags full of things she had bought at Diagon Alley. Chucking them on Buffy's side of the couch in an unusually messy gesture (although she kept the cat's portable cage on top), she sighed.

Buffy looked up from the television.

"Willow. You're back... early."

Willow looked at her friend. "I don't want to talk about it."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Which is why you came in all upset and loud, huh?"

Willow shrugged, attempting to look nonchalant. She failed miserably.

"Wills," said Buffy. "What happened?"

"I... I was an idiot."

Buffy couldn't resist it, she grinned. "Okay. Anything _new?_"

"He was just being nice and I got all secretive."

"Ah." Buffy winced. She knew this was probably her fault with her 'don't-tell-them-anything' speech. "What did he want to know?"

"Nothingreally_. _I said some stuff, and he wanted to know what I meant and then I snapped at him. Simple as that."

Buffy went into counsellor mode. If there was one good thing that had come from her stint as a teacher at Sunnydale High, it was that now she was pretty good at helping people with their problems... provided, of course, that they weren't about her.

"So, tell me what you said exactly."

Now it was Willow's turn to wince. "Well... we were discussing what I should name the cat I bought and then I suggested Mr Pointy, after your stake, but then I said you wouldn't like that, and he asked why and then I said because you hadn't been fighting vamps a lot and that I thought it was, because..." Willow trailed off. "Because of Spike – but I didn't tell him the last part."

Buffy blinked at the torrent of information that was poured out at her. She focused on the simplest part. "Wait. You got us a cat?"

Willow nodded, gesturing to the cage. "I didn't mean to, but he was so cute and fluffy. I couldn't resist." She switched back to the topic at hand. "But Buffy... what should I _do_?"

"Honestly... no idea. Maybe just... avoid him for a while, see what happens."

Willow nodded. "You're probably right. Sometimes I wish that we were still just the good old Scoobies."

Buffy nodded, thinking to herself that the argument with Bill was probably not the only reason Willow wished that.

* * *

Two hours after his disastrous conversation with Willow, Bill Apparated to just outside the Burrow. He'd spent two hours just cleaning up around the house – getting done things he'd been needing to do for a while but had been too lazy to get round to – and thinking about his conversation with Willow. Frankly, he had no idea what had set her off like that. But somehow, at the end of the conversation, he'd got the feeling that the subject had changed without him noticing, that they were no longer talking about something that was wrong with Buffy, but something that was wrong with Willow. But maybe he was just imagining things.

Still, he'd come up with no way to make up with her on his own, and so had reluctantly decided to come visit the Burrow to ask for help.

Bill went up and knocked on the door. There was a moment's wait, and then Arthur Weasley answered the door.

"Bill!" said Arthur, his face lighting up. "What brings you to the Burrow?"

"Is Mum home?" asked Bill shortly.

The smile faded slightly from Arthur's face. "Would you come in if she was?" he asked almost sadly.

Bill shook his head.

"I thought as much. And, no, she isn't home."

Bill relaxed slightly. "Can I come in then?" he asked.

"Of course, of course."

The two of them went into the living room, which was now filled with wedding photos as well as baby photos and childhood photos. Bill noticed with a grimace that his and Fleur's wedding photo was still there. "She should take that down." he said bluntly to his father as they sat down on the couch.

"I've asked her but..." Arthur sighed. "Bill, it's been two years. Don't you think the two of you should forgive each other?"

"I'll forgive her when she stops acting like the divorce was my fault."

Realising he was not going to get anywhere, Arthur changed the subject. "So, what brings you to the Burrow?" he repeated.

"I need some advice," said Bill simply.

"About...?"

Bill hesitated. "You know about the new department?" he asked eventually.

Arthur snorted. "How could I not?"

Bill raised an eyebrow.

Arthur laughed slightly. "Ron's been in here every other day, complaining about it. He's not exactly happy with the assignment itself, and add the fact that Lee Jordan's on his team... Well, let's just say Hermione's happy to have him come over here regularly, just so she can have a break from listening to his problems."

Bill smiled despite himself. "Sounds like Ron alright. Anyway, one of the members of the department is Willow Rosenberg, their Magical Liaison..."

And with that, Bill began explaining about Willow, how she'd come up and talked to him at the fountain, and hadn't been bothered by his scars at all. How she'd turned up in the Department of Mysteries and how they'd discovered that she was a witch. He told Arthur about their trip to Diagon Alley and how it had ended in a fight that he only half understood. By the end of it all, Arthur was grinning like a Cheshire cat, an expression Bill had never seen on his father before.

"Congratulations," said Arthur simply when Bill had finished.

Bill blinked and then frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Arthur smiled at his son. "I think you're finally over Fleur."

"What? We were talking about Willow, what has that got to do with anything? And why wouldn't I be over her? Like you said, it was two years ago!" Bill said defensively.

"Bill, since you and Fleur broke up, you have not gone out with a single girl, or shown any interest in one, up until now. Now all of a sudden you're coming to the Burrow – which you have also been avoiding, don't think I haven't noticed – to ask for _advice. _You like her. A lot."

"I barely know her!"

"Still... Do you want my advice?"

Bill gave his father a Look. "I thought I said that already."

"Right, right. So what I say is... apologise. You don't know what you did wrong, but apologise anyway. It worked enough times when Molly and I were going out."

"But I still don't get it. Why did she even get all upset like that?"

Arthur sighed and rubbed the bridge his nose absentmindedly. "Bill, does she know about you and Fleur?"

"No."

"What about the war, does she know what happened then?"

"No..."

"Then how can you expect her to be telling you everything that's ever happened to her when you haven't told her about what's happened to you?"

Bill would have replied but just then there came the sound of the door opening in the kitchen and Ron and Hermione's voices were heard.

"Ron, it can't have been that bad."

"You should have seen it, Hermione! The bloody kid spilt Irremovable Ink all over my paperwork. I had no choice but to make him do it all over again on the weekend."

"Still, it was cruel. How would you like it if someone did that to you?"

"Well, they didn't. And besides the kid's got to learn that—" The two of them walked into the living room. "Oh. Hi Bill, Dad."

Bill got up. "Hi Ron. I was just leaving."

"No you weren't," said Arthur bluntly. Molly might have been the one who had brought the kids up, but Arthur was still technically head of the family, and sometimes – like now – it showed. "Ron, go make some tea. Bill, sit down. Now, how's work, Hermione?"

* * *

Dawn looked at her desk. It was neat, clean, and – most importantly – free of paperwork.

"Wow. I can't believe we finished it all," she said simply, looking at Dale. "Thanks again for helping out."

"It's no problem," muttered Dale, a bit embarrassed.

There was a pause, as they surveyed their work.

The papers were all filed away correctly, the markers added to the Map, and Dawn's inbox cleared. Dale had done quite a lot of it, although Dawn had had to stop and explain things – such as what a Asphyx demon was, and why Hellmouth dots were yellow – rather frequently.

At last, Dawn coughed and said, "Well, I'd better be going."

Dale nodded, as he turned to pack up the last of the ink bottles.

Just as she reached the door however, she heard him say: "Dawn, what's that?"

She turned around. Dale was pointing to the Map.

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Dale, that's the Map. I already told you, it's how we track demonic activities as well as Hellmouths and Slay—"

Dale cut her off. "No, not the Map in general. _That_." He pointed again and Dawn looked closer.

Dale was pointing at a part of the zoomed in British Isles map, near the county of Cheshire, in England. There was a dot, a blue dot for higher-than-normal demonic population, and the dot... was flashing.

Dawn blinked. "Oh, shit..."

* * *

Back at the Burrow, Hermione was going over the finer points of the new legislation she had helped pass when a shining blue _thing _burst through the wall, although of course it didn't damage the wall in any way.

Arthur, Bill, Hermione and Ron jumped up, all of them pulling out their wands at the same time.

"That's Dale's Patronus," said Ron. "What the hell is it doing here?"

Bill looked at the creature again. Now that the shock of the Patronus's arrival had passed, he noticed its form. The Patronus was a rabbit, with rather large ears, certainly not the most fear inspiring Patronus in existence.

"Mr Weasley," said the Patronus. "Map showing demon attack in Cheshire county. Dawn notifying Scoobies. Will need help – come to Department a.s.a.p."

"Damn," said Ron. "Looks like I'm off to fight a demon. See you."

Bill stood up. "Wait."

"What?" snapped Ron.

"I'll come too."

"Bill, you're not even an Auror."

"So? I still know stuff, and you don't know how many there are or what they're doing. Better more people than necessary than less."

Ron paused for a moment, weighing up the options. "Fine," he said at last. "But if you get yourself hurt, don't come crying to me."

Bill grinned despite himself. "I won't."

With that, the two of them Disapparated, leaving a rather confused Arthur and a perplexed Hermione behind.

* * *

_Bring-bring. Bring-bring._

Buffy leant over from where she and Willow were watching _Friends _re-runs (always a sure fire cheer-up, no matter the situation) and picked up the phone.

"Yeah?" she said simply.

"Buffy!" came a voice from the phone. "It's Dawn. There's a demon attack going on near Cheshire County. Meet me at the Ministry quick – the Aurors will take us there. Dale's contacting them now."

Buffy nodded then remembered that Dawn couldn't see that. "Okay. Anything else?"

"Yeah – can you contact Xander for me? It's just I've got to call everyone else and I've lost his new cell number..."

"Sure. I'll see you there."

"Okay. Bye." Dawn hung up.

Buffy turned to Willow. "That was Dawn," she said as she dialled a number into her mobile. "Get your stuff, and let's get going. We've got some demons to fight."


	7. The Rogue Slayer

**Travesty International**

**- A BtVS/HP Crossover**

**Disclaimer:**JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Joss Whedon owns Buffy. I am neither.

**Time Setting:** Set seven years after Deathly Hallows, one year after Buffy the Vampire Slayer season seven. (Which actually works if you look at the dates for both.) I am ignoring some of DH Epilogue, and the entire 'Season Eight' comics, as well as Season Five of Angel. Sorry to those who like those parts but it's about creative freedom plus I was facing some serious plot-bunny-problems should these be included in the 'back story'.

**Pairings:**Mainly WillowBill. Also HarryGinny, RonHermione and eventual DawnOC. Other relationships are planned that I'm keeping secret. Aren't I evil?

**A/N: **Yay! The next chapter's here. This was actually a really difficult one to write: it includes the first major fight scenes I've ever written, is about twice as long as the previous chapter, and contains some pretty annoying-to-write flashbacks. On the upside, you guys get to learn what happened to Kennedy, among other random things. So, enjoy.

* * *

By the time Willow and Buffy reached the Ministry, the others - both the Department members as well as their assigned Aurors - were already there, getting ready.

Willow noted with a shock that Bill was there too. Their eyes met for a moment, and then they both looked away quickly.

"Dawn," said Buffy, going straight up to her sister. "What's going on?"

"It looks like we're dealing with a group of Boretz demons who got over protective of their territory all of a sudden and started killing anything in their path. Including humans."

"Boretz demons..." repeated Buffy, blankly. It had been a long time since she'd gone over her demonology.

"They're nasty things - poisoned fangs and fists like rocks. They go blind when they mature, but they're able to sense mystical energies and powers. So the older ones - even if they can't see you, they'll be able to sense where you are because of your Slayer-ness. If one saw me it'd probably get a major headache."

"Huh?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Me - the Key. Shiny ball of energy. Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Sorry, I've only had one cup of coffee today. Continue."

"Anyway, I'm betting they'd be able to sense wizards and stuff too. Not that their spells would do much good - these things have really thick hides around the belly area. You should be able to decapitate them, and fire's still good, but a normal punch to the stomach ain't gonna be much help."

Buffy flinched slightly. "Ouch. Do we have numbers?"

Dawn shook her head. "The Map couldn't say. If I didn't know better, I would say it was... _confused. _Like there was something it didn't know or couldn't understand."

"Dawn, we're talking about a friggin' map here. It can't be confused - it can't even think."

"I don't know. The wizards said that enchanted objects sometimes take a life of their own in a way, and Harry also said the one that he based the Map's enchantments on was like that too. So maybe it can..." She shrugged. "Like I said, I'm not sure."

Buffy shrugged. "We'll figure it out later. Right now we've got some demons to kill." She turned to the others.

"We ready to go?"

Everyone nodded.

"Yes, ma'am," called Xander.

Buffy shot him a glare as the Aurors (and Bill) stepped forward, each taking the hand of someone so that they were in a large circle, with the wizards evenly spaced around the circle.

Harry took the lead."On three. One... two... three!"

_

* * *

_

_CRACK._

The group materialised in the middle of a hellish scene - literally. The house closest to them appeared to have been almost completely destroyed, and smoke filled the air. There were a few bystanders, most of them lying hurt on the ground, but not as many as there could have been. Most seemed to have fled when the attack started. Still, it looked bad. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being army of Ubervamps and one being a demonic kitten, this was about a five, maybe a six.

Quickly analysing her surroundings, Buffy turned to the others. "Dawn," she said. "Get these people to somewhere safe - help them as much as you can. Ruby-" she glanced at one of the newer Slayers "-help her out, set up a medical base. Everyone who can fight, go do your thing."

Everyone headed off quickly. Dale went to set off after Harry, Ron and Lee, who were heading towards a dark shape in the distance that appeared to be a demon, but was stopped by Bill, who put a hand on his shoulder and, with a shake of his head, beckoned for Dale to come help with the medical stuff. Almost reluctantly, Dale - along with Bill - set out after Dawn and Ruby.

Buffy turned to Giles and Willow, who had remained behind. "You two - I want you to find out what the hell we're up against." Then she turned and sped after the other fighters.

* * *

As soon as Buffy was gone, Giles looked at Willow. "Do you remember what I taught you... in England?"

Willow nodded. "Sense the magic, but do not embrace it," she said, in the voice of one who had learnt something by heart. "I know what to do."

Leaning down, Willow pressed her hand against the earth. She closed her eyes, knowing that Giles would make sure she was not attacked by any stray demons that she did not sense in time.

Willow breathed slowly, feeling the Earth and the magic beneath her fingertips. A river of dark and light that coursed through the Earth like molten lava. _Her_ magic, should she choose to use it. But she didn't - simply observing the magic, not diving into its depths, where she knew she would lose herself. Just... floating.

Focussing her mind on the land closest to her, she felt for any abnormalities in the flow. She picked them out, isolating them all in her mind. She quickly discarded the ones that stood out as Buffy and the other, newer potentials. For a moment there was a flicker of something she didn't recognise, but that too was pushed out of her mind leaving behind the strange flat 'auras' - for lack of a better word - of the demons.

"There are... twenty four of them," she said to Giles, keeping her eyes closed. "There were two more but _something_ got to them." She frowned. Again there was that same flicker from before.

Shifting her weight, she concentrated on the unrecognisable feeling. At last, a picture flew into her mind, clear and bright as day. She opened her eyes, breaking her connection with the magic, and looked up at the Watcher beside her.

"Giles, it was a Slayer."

* * *

"Dawn, I've got another one!" called Dale as he carried an injured person - an unconscious woman this time - over to the makeshift medical bit that the four of them - Dawn, Dale, Bill and a young, dark skinned Slayer named Katrina - had set up. There were several people, all unconscious, lying on the ground, while they tried to help them as best they could.

Most had been hurt by normal causes: too much smoke inhalation, or burns from the fires. Others, however, had been attacked by the demons themselves, and had gaping wounds.

"What's it this time?" Dawn asked, looking up from where she was applying an anti-burn cream a victim's leg.

"I don't know - it doesn't look like fire." He laid the person on the ground. They didn't stir.

Dawn looked at the body, and then at Dale. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was magic."

Bill came over. "Those don't look like any magic wounds I've seen," he said. "They're too ragged, for one thing."

Dawn looked at Bill as if he had sprouted a second head. "Not _your _magic - our kind. The dark, dangerous type." She bit her lip.

"What is it?"

"If it's magic, I don't see how we're going to be able to heal it."

Bill smiled grimly. "Why don't I try some of _our_ magic?" he asked.

Before Dawn could reply, he pulled out his wand and began to mutter a spell, waving the wand over the wound, first clockwise, then anticlockwise. Slowly the wound began to close until at last it was mostly closed. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for now.

"Woah," said Dawn. "Any reason you didn't mention the super-strong-healing-spells until now?"

Bill shrugged. "That one only works on magical wounds, and even then it's a temporary fix at best. For a proper healing, you'd need potions and balms, not just spells."

"Oh." Dawn looked slightly crestfallen.

* * *

Buffy examined the demon in front of her. It was of a greenish hue, tall, with yellow horns protruding from its head, and seemed to have fangs. It was also trying very hard to kill her.

"Honestly," she quipped, swinging Scythe at the demon. "I'd say pick on someone your own size - but that wouldn't be fair."

There was a hiss as her specially-made Slayer weapon cut through the air and into the beast's neck. The demon's body folded, and then collapsed. Buffy grinned, as she hefted the weapon, regaining her fighting stance, already looking around for another opponent.

"After all," she added to the body of the deceased demon. "Look how easily _I _beat you."

* * *

"And you're absolutely sure about this?" asked Giles for the umpteenth time, as he and Willow searched through the smoke for the supposed resident Slayer.

"Giles," replied Willow, her voice a bit impatient. "I know what I saw... felt... whatever. There was a Slayer here."

"But then where is she now?"

Willow whirled around, still edgy from her confrontation (if you could call it that) with Bill earlier. "Look, Giles. We're not dealing with the big old confusing First here. If I say there was a Slayer, there's a Slayer. It's a bit hard to miss the powerful all-righteous energy they give out." She neglected to mention that she _had _almost missed it. If the flicker had not happened that second time, she wouldn't have even considered the possibility of an undiscovered Slayer.

Giles frowned. "I was just trying to make sure."

"Yeah, well, right now we've got a job to do. Let's just hope that while we were standing here chatting, the girl didn't go and get herself killed."

"Indeed," said Giles, and they moved on in silence.

* * *

By the time those working at the make-shift medical zone had time to pause and catch their breath, another seven injured had been added to their care. Pulled out from the wreckage of buildings, or lying on the ground where they had landed after being attacked by demons.

Bill was astounded by Dawn's ability to handle the wounds and, well, gore that they saw.

"Did you have an extremely demented childhood?" he asked as they surveyed their patients. "Horror movies every night? No fluffy bunny shows allowed?"

Dawn simply looked at him and said, "If you live in Sunnydale, you get used to this stuff."

"So, what, are evil demon attacks a dime a dozen there?"

"Pretty much. If it's not demons, it's witches. If it's not witches, it's vamps. And if it's not vamps... Well, if it's not vamps that's only because the town's exploded."

Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Exploded?"

"Exploded, collapsed, same difference. Either way, it was there one minute and gone the next."

"Huh... And you survived this how?"

Dawn laughed. "We raced out of town on a school bus."

Bill shook his head. "And I thought my life was weird."

The two stood in silence for a moment, watching Kate - the young newbie Slayer - roll one of the patients onto their side to re-examine their wound.

"So... anything else I should know about you guys? No secret Darth Vader's?" Bill had been coaxed by his father to go see several of the Star Wars movies when he was younger. It had been seriously embarrassing for him, as Arthur had spent much of the time proclaiming that it was amazing 'what the Muggles come up with' and that sort of thing. Still, some information about the movie had stuck.

"No," said Dawn, but there was a slightly cautious note to his voice. _No Darth Vader's, _she thought,_but certainly a few Anakin's.... _**(1) **"You ought to talk to Andrew some time - the guy's a Star Wars fanatic. Once, he spent an entire day talking like Jaja Binks. Only reason he stopped was that Buffy threatened to beat up Andrew so bad - _he'd _need a Darth Vader suit."

Bill laughed.

Kate looked up to see what the joke was. Instantly, she paled and yelled, "Duck!"

Instinctively, Dawn and Bill threw themselves on the ground, narrowly avoiding a blow from a demon that had snuck up behind them. Kate rushed forward and began to fight the demon.

Bill and Dale cast spells at it, but most of them simply bounced off its hide.

"Leave this to me," said Kate but her words were made less impressive by the fact that, a moment later, the demon lurched forward with surprising speed and hit Kate in the stomach.

She grimaced but kept fighting, delivering a roundhouse kick to its head.

"Give me the pale ones! Give me the bright one!" yelled the demon.

Dawn glared at the demon as she got up. "Excuse me, I have a name!" Picking a medium size piece of wood from one of the destroyed houses, she ran forward to help out Kate.

The two of them circled round the demon, ducking to avoid the blows it threw at them. Dawn repeatedly hit the demon in the legs before it got in a blow to her side, and she had to fall back - her makeshift weapon falling to the ground - winded.

The demon unexpectedly turned around and, with a powerful punch, flung Kate backwards. She fell to the ground, and struggled for a moment, grimacing as she tried to put her weight on her left arm.

"I think it's broken," she called.

The demon turned towards Dale.

His eyes widened, as he realised he was next. But, fortunately for him, his years of training to be an Auror had given him some reflexes. He was barely aware of turning his wand towards the creature's chest and yelling, "_Incendio_!"

The demon roared as flames exploded towards it, licking at its chest and leaving burn marks. But it stepped forward none the less and was about to get Dale with a fearsome blow to the head that would no doubt crack his skull when-

"Sectesempra!" yelled Bill, stepping forward. The spell launched itself at the demon, cutting through the demon's thick hide. A large gash appeared across the creature's back. With a roar of pain, the demon turned towards Bill, and the fight continued...

* * *

Buffy grunted as she kicked the demon (a new one, several others having added themselves to her total of conquests) in the head once more.

"Why the hell... won't... you... die!" she yelled, articulating each word at the end with another kick.

The demon growled. "Die, Slayer!"

"Oh, how very original," quipped Buffy as she dodged another blow. Another kick to the beast's shoulder as it recovered, and then she turned around quickly. "Xander!" she shouted. "A little fire would be nice right about now!"

"I'm working on it!" he shouted back.

Buffy launched herself at the demon with a spinning kick, before decapitating it with the Scythe. "Never mind," she yelled at Xander.

* * *

Giles and Willow made their way quickly down the main street, past destroyed shops and broken cars. The Boretz demons hadn't been messing around. Every so often, Willow would pause, and using her magic check the location of their missing Slayer.

The signal was faint - sometimes vanishing altogether. The girl must be injured - badly. Or maybe she had some protective amulet which hid her from Willow's search, and that had been damaged. Willow doubted it.

"We're getting closer," she said to Giles, as they went past the wreckage of a gas station.

Giles simply nodded. She had been saying that after ever stop.

"I wonder why we didn't pick up on her before," Giles pondered as they started off again.

Willow shrugged, speeding up as she did so. "Maybe she only recently became a Slayer. We _have _been kinda busy with the whole Ministry thing."

"We shouldn't have neglected our other duties," said Giles with a frown. "Perhaps this department business was a bad idea after all..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we have been centering our activities more on England. We should be concentrating on a wider area."

"Giles, up until a year ago, we were a Sunnydale-only business. You can't expect us to take over a whole world's worth of demon problems all of a sudden."

"But with the Council gone..."

"We've got Faith in South America, plus a bunch of other newbie Slayers all over. We're doing our best, Giles."

"But Faith's not really working - she's concentrating on finding... ahem, our rogue Slayer."

Willow stopped in her tracks. Giles continued forward for a moment, before realising she was not there. He stopped too, and turned to face her. "Willow?"

"Say it, Giles."

"What?"

Willow glared at him. When she spoke, her voice was filled with a quiet anger. "I can't believe I didn't notice it until now. You've all been avoiding the topic, haven't you? Never mentioning it at all. No _wonder _Buffy was so freaked when they asked about Faith at the meeting. God, you all think I'm a child!"

"Willow..."

"_Say it, _Giles."

Giles grimaced. "This wasn't the time for this - we should be looking for the missing Slayer."

"I'm not moving another inch until you say it Giles. Go on." She paused, and in an ironic imitation of a game show host said, "Who's our rogue Slayer?"

She already knew the answer, of course, she just wanted Giles to stop babying her. God! They'd even given her the job of doing all their paperwork, hoping it would _distract _her. How could she have not noticed until right this moment?

It was with a macabre satisfaction that she heard Giles give in and say the words:

"Kennedy is the rogue Slayer."

* * *

**_Five months earlier..._**

_"God, Willow! I don't know how you put up with them," complained Kennedy. She was pacing again - her feet trampling the same path they had many times before. Kennedy liked to pace a lot. It was one of the things Willow found so... amusing... about her._

_"They're just trying to do what's best," said Willow, barely looking up from her book._

_"What's best? They're sitting around a table like a bunch of old men, and not doing anything."_

_"It's an important thing, Kennedy," replied Willow. "We've just discovered a whole new magical community."_

_"So?" Kennedy stopped pacing to face Willow, her hands on her hips._

_"So they need to decide what to do about it."_

_"I don't see why we need to do anything. These people can obviously look after themselves."_

_"But they don't know anything about demons or vampires - not like we do. Giles said they have a vampire and werewolf casualty rate higher than all of America."_

_"That's their problem."_

_Willow frowned. "How can you say that?"_

_"It's true. We should be out saving people, not playing diplomat!"_

_

* * *

_

_The Scoobies, plus a few newbie Slayers, were sitting in Buffy's hotel room, with people perched on the various seats. Andrew had dragged a beanbag in from somewhere and was flipping through a comic book. Faith was on the couch, sharpening a new stake, with Wood sitting next to her. Willow, Xander and a very annoyed Kennedy were standing near the window, while Buffy explained about the planned meeting with the 'Ministry of Magic'. _

_"...So, what I'm thinking is, Willow, Giles and me will go see the Wizards. That way, we-"_

_"Willow is _not _going," interrupted Kennedy._

_"Kennedy, it's just a meeting," said Buffy, giving her fellow Slayer a look of disdain._

_"And you're_ _just a pompous idiot."_

_"Kennedy, calm down!" interrupted Willow._

_"Why should I? They're risking their lives - and _yours ­- _on some bloody meeting with bloody wizards! It's probably a trap!"_

_Faith nodded. "I'm with Kennedy here."_

_Xander turned to Faith. "Well, you'd know all about traps, wouldn't you?"_

_"Want to say that to my face?" snapped Faith._

_"I'm just saying... you _are _the resident expert."_

_Wood glared at Xander. "Back off, Xander."_

_The room quickly degenerated into a shouting match. _

_Willow sighed. Everyone had been so on edge lately - something like this was bound to happen. "Guys!" she yelled. "Guys! Quiet!"_

_Everyone stopped, so surprised were they to hear Willow shout._

_"Guys," she repeated. "This isn't helping. If you keep this up, I'll go talk to the wizards and tell them you can't make the meeting, because you're too busy tearing each other's throats out."_

_"But Willow-"_

_"Listen," said Willow, her voice becoming gentler. "It could be a trap, but it's too good an opportunity to say no on that off-chance. People have got to go there, and that might as well include me."_

_Angry, Kennedy stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her._

_Silence._

_At last, Giles spoke up. "Maybe I should just go alone..."_

_

* * *

__Things got worse from there. Every decision Buffy made, Kennedy challenged. Every day, a new argument, a new fight. The others quickly tired of it all, and even Buffy tried to calm Kennedy down, conceding things where she would normally not, but it did not work._

_Kennedy just got angrier and angrier until finally even Willow started to see that something was wrong._

_"We've got to do something," said Willow. "She's getting worse every day. Yesterday I caught her looking into some of my... darker... magic books. When I asked what she was doing, she said she wanted to try them. What was in those books was _bad, _guys, serious Voodoo bad."_

_Giles frowned. "Why did you even have it then?"_

_Willow held his gaze calmly. "I was trying to come up with some new counter-curses. All the ones I know are so complicated, I was trying to simplify it into something easier to use."_

_"Oh." Giles looked away, embarrassed at his jumping to conclusions._

_Buffy nodded. "She's been snapping at everyone - even Faith. And normally those two see eye to eye on pretty much everything."_

_Xander added his own opinion. "Apparently she was really bitchy to the newbies - kept yelling at them constantly. Seven of them came back from training crying. Including Abby."_

_The four of them - Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander - all grimaced. Abby was one of the toughest new Slayers, despite the fact that she was only fourteen. Getting her to cry was like getting a mountain to cry._

_

* * *

_

_"Earth to Giles!" said Buffy. The two of them were in a friend of Giles's private Library, looking over demon information._

_"Oh, erm, yes?" mumbled Giles, who had been staring off into space._

_"I said, what do you think is wrong with Kennedy?" she repeated._

_Giles sighed. "I think we have to... In light of all the evidence... It's not a definite conclusion mind you but still..."_

_"Spit it out Giles."_

_"It's possible she might be going bad."_

_Buffy paused, unable to stop a feeling of dread seeping into her. "Like, evil Willow bad?"_

_"I was thinking more along the lines of Faith-bad," admitted Giles._

_"Woah. That bad. And if it is?"_

_"Then we might have to take... steps."_

_

* * *

_

_"Pack your stuff," snapped Kennedy. "We're leaving."_

_"What are you talking about?" asked Willow._

_"I said, we're leaving. Now. South America. I can't handle this anymore. Buffy... Giles... God, they're all bastards. They hate me, Willow. All of them."_

_Willow backed away slowly from her girlfriend, fear in her eyes._

_"Kennedy, please... just calm down..."_

_"Shut up!" yelled Kennedy. "I am so sick of you always standing up for them - what about me? I'm your girlfriend, not goody-two-shoes Buffy and the Scooby parade. After all of this... Do you think..."_

_"Kennedy... You're scaring me..."_

_"SHUT UP!" yelled Kennedy._

Slap.

_Kennedy froze for a moment. She reached up, touching her cheek where Willow had hit her. "You... hit... me," she said slowly. With a maddened smile, Kennedy raised her arm to hit Willow. Willow raised her arms to defend herself_

_Just then, Faith burst in. "Kennedy," yelled Faith. "Stop!"_

_Kennedy turned to Faith. "Why, Faith? Isn't there room enough for more than one big bad wolf? Worried I'll take your spot?"_

_Faith stepped forward, her arms raised in a peace gesture even as she took on a fighting stance. "Don't do it, Kennedy."_

_"Oh, I think I will," taunted Kennedy, stepping forward._

_Before anyone else could make a move, Kennedy stepped forward and punched Faith in the gut, following it up with a blow to the head._

_Faith fell down, and Kennedy calmly stepped over her body. She paused in the doorway and, grinning once more, turned to Willow. _

_"See you, sweetie," she said._

_And then... Kennedy was gone._

_

* * *

_

_"...And then she left," finished Willow. The entire Scooby gang had gathered for an emergency meeting following Kennedy's attack. Tears were falling from Willow's eyes, falling unnoticed as she looked at her lap, unable to meet the eyes of those assembled there._

_After a long moment, Buffy asked hesitantly, "What are we going now?"_

_Faith stood up. "I'll go after her. I let her get away - so it's my job to get her back."_

_Wood looked at her. "I'll go too."_

_"But--"_

_"You'll need backup, Faith. Even with your... knowledge... of rogue Slayers, you shouldn't go after her alone."_

_"Fine."_

_"Where will she head?" asked Giles._

_Willow looked up, wiping away her tears as she did so. "South America. She said she was going to South America."_

* * *

_"The rogue Slayer is Kennedy."_

Giles sighed. "Happy, Willow?" he said sadly.

"No," replied Willow in a quiet voice. "But I'll keep going now."

As they moved off, heading towards the Slayer's magic 'signal' once more, Willow turned to Giles and said one last thing, her tone sad once more:

"You know I'm over her? That there was no point to all of that?"

Giles nodded. "I know, Willow. I know..."

* * *

"Well, that's the last of them," said Buffy, as she and Xander hurled the last demon corpse onto the pile they had made.

"Yup," said Xander, unsuccessfully attempting to brush the demon blood off his clothes. "Thank god for that."

"Here," said Ron. "_Scourgify._" The blood vanished from Xander's clothes.

"Thanks," said Xander with a smile. "You don't know how many good tops I've lost because of that."

Ron laughed. "Tell me about it - in our first year at Hogwarts, me, Harry and Hermione - that's my wife - met this three-headed dog called Fluffy. He was huge. 'Took me ages to get the slobber of my robes. And then, there was the time with the spiders. Trust me, you've never had a bad lot of cleaning till you've had to get mutant-spider's webs of your clothes..."

Leaving the two 'boys' chatting about creature encounters, Buffy went over to Harry.

"You lot were really good," she said.

Harry grinned. "You too. How'd you all learn to fight like that? I mean, I get the whole Slayer-super strength thing but... the others..." He glanced meaningfully over at Andrew, who was chatting with Lee Jordan.

Buffy laughed slightly. "We've all had our fair share of weirdness."

"Really?"

Despite her earlier policy on secrets, Buffy continued. "Yeah. You see Andrew over there? He's an ex-super villain."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Okay... A wanna-be super villain," admitted Buffy. "But still!"

* * *

"Come out, little Slayer, wherever you are," called Willow in a sing-song voice, trying not to let the fact that she was still upset from earlier show.

There was a small sound around the corner.

"This way, Giles!" she called.

Quickly, the two of them ran forward, in the direction the sound had come from.

They rounded the corner...

A girl stepped forward. Willow only had time to notice that she had blonde hair and that her leg was bleeding before the girl's fist swung out and connected with Willow's head.

_Ouch, that hurt... _thought Willow vaguely. Everything around her seemed unnaturally bright for a single moment and then it faded... Into blackness...

* * *

**(1)**By this of course, she means Willow, Spike and Kennedy. In Spike and Willow's cases, the Anakin thing includes the whole 'good person turns evil and then turns good again only in time to stop the end of the world' thing. Kennedy's is just the going-evil part.

Sidenote - This is the first time I've used footnotes and it's simply because I couldn't be bothered having to explain that comment to a bunch of my friends who would otherwise PM me about it and include lots of question marks...

And yes, Boretz demons are my own creation.

Please don't forget to review!


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